[Editorial] Politicians Joining to Defend Themselves Against Public Scrutiny

Prior to the 16th general election in 2000, the National Assembly cut the number of representatives from 299 to 273 due to public criticism on the "unproductivity" of our legislative body. People got angry about too many congressmen, in their opinion, who were doing nothing but fattening their pockets with taxpayers` money. In addition, at that time, the whole nation was fighting economic woes. People were cutting down on everything. Thus, lawmakers could not brush off the criticisms and, finally, caved in.

For the past three years, the privileged "representatives of the public," despite their reduction in number, have done almost nothing to improve their productivity. Likewise, the national economy does not look that bright. But, they are reportedly racking their brains to raise their numbers to former levels. It`s absurd and we don`t quite understand the move. What is more devastating is finding out that the move was initiated by a congressional committee in charge of reforming the legislative body itself. On this issue, it is reported that the ruling and opposition parties both support one another so these politicians are dovetailed on an issue that would benefit only the lawmakers and not the people.

Flimsier is the excuse they have come up with to justify their fattening advocacy. They cite a decision by the Constitutional Court that some districts are unconstitutionally larger than others. That is why they have to create more constituencies. And adjusting the number of voters among districts has nothing to do with creating more positions. If we look at it the other way around, it is possible to make adjustments by cutting this number down. Considering public discontent with polls and the reeling national economy, the latter seems more practical and reasonable.

Political reform in a nutshell means restructuring the political structure in our society. If we create 20 more legislative jobs, we, the taxpayers, have to pay approximately 100 billion more for four years to put them on the national payroll. This goes against the political reform we are trying to pursue. To understand it, we don`t need any further elaboration.

We cannot help but feel devastated and betrayed by watching politicians neglecting much needed political reform, but fighting with each other out of partisanship and cutting deals to only make their case stronger. We may be "wrong" to expect these greedy people to reform themselves by throwing away any possibility for them to fatten their pockets. South Koreans cannot just sit on their hands, watching politicians create more politicians.