Don’t Stop Pursuit of Campaign Pledges on Excuse of Budget

President-elect Roh on Jan. 14 said, "The presidential transition team is not suggesting policies after considering legislation and national budget. It is not proper that some government officials say that the budget is not enough because the budget structure could be reformed."

Mr. Roh’s contradiction to the words from some ministries and agencies that because of budget and legislation, it is difficult to implement Mr. Roh’s pledges can be interpreted as his willingness to adjust priorities in budget in order to deliver on his promises.

At a meeting with the transition team’s directors, the President-elect said, "When we are now discussing all the matters, we should take into account budget and legislation. However, it is not that the national management is done within the budget limit of related government agencies."

Mr. Roh stressed that public servants should be aggressive in pursuing the campaign pledges, saying, "Government officials can have their own conviction. What is more important, however, is the direction in which the new government tries to go. Once the public tested my campaign pledges and elected me as president, government should make efforts to follow the trend in the public commitments, thereby creating a united government."

He continued, "I got a report saying that government officials call the transition committee as idealist while the committee calls them as anti-reformists. But I think the report is not reliable. There are a lot of reformists within the administration and the transition team members are not idealists."

"Some people have made cynical expressions such as `Seoul Republic,` or `Pollution Republic,`" the President-elect said, "But I have talked about creating a `Debate Republic.` I want to make discussions everyday routines and be insistent on consistency."

Young-Hae Choi yhchoi65@donga.com