Civic Movement in Civilized Society is Pillar of Korean Society

President-elect Roh Moo-hyun said on Jan. 6, “The major driving forces in our society are civic society and civic movement, which he has thought before and thinks that way now.” He also added, “If there is anything he can help, he will.”

The President-elect attended in a New Year`s congratulatory ceremony of the Korean Civic and Social Solidarity held at the Korea Press Center that afternoon. “Without civic movements that you have contributed to, it is impossible for me to win the Dec. 19 presidential election,” he said in the ceremony.

“I have long cherished the importance of civic movement so that once I thought that it might be better to quit my job as a lawmaker in the 13th National Assembly sessions and devote myself to civic movement because in Feb. 1989, the National Assembly failed to carry out its function,” he said. “Although I don`t know how many of you voted for me in this election, the whole process of this presidential election had much significance and Korean civic movements laid the foundation for that,” he stressed.

He also appealed to the participants` constant support for him by saying, “During my term of office, sometimes there will be unpleasant news broken through the media. Even though I can`t promise you that I will be a perfect president, I will do my utmost to meet your expectation toward me and I hope we will meet again with joy and satisfaction after 5 years from now.”

The Korean Civic and Social Solidarity, which was formalized in Feb. 2001, is a coalition of Korean Non Government Organizations (NGO) and some 320 civic groups, including the Alliance for citizens` participation and the Coalition for environmental movement, are under the wings of the Korean NGO`s coalition. The group launched the Voters` Alliance for the Dec.19 Presidential Election and carried out monitoring functions during the election.

He made it clear in his message leaflet distributed prior to the ceremony, “The topic of the New Year is change and participation. Many people who have worked for civic groups and civic movements are participating in the Presidential Transition Committee, which reflects that a society for which the incoming government and you are pursuing is not different.”

Seung-Heon Lee ddr@donga.com