[Editorial] Roh`s Misplaced Intentions

President Roh posted a letter on the Blue House homepage. To whom did he write? Formally, it was written to Lee Ki-myong, the former head of his supporters` group. In substance, however, it was a message to someone else. President Roh in his letter talks a lot about the press. Thus, the first intended receiver must be the press. He also alleges, "Hopefully, wrong and false allegations will not send anyone to jail." Hence, the second receiver would probably be the prosecution. And the third, but ultimate receiver must be the whole public since it was posted in a place where anyone could access it.

In fact, if President Roh had really wanted to express his concern and apology to Lee, he would not have had to make the letter public. In this respect, his intent does not seem pure. It is suspected that President Roh may have resorted to inflammatory means for various reasons: first, among others, to gag the press that has been consistently trying to unearth the truth out of the Yongin land scandal involving his brother; second, to deter the looming presence of the prosecution towards the scandal, which has been persistently demanded by the Grand National Party; and to play sympathy on his supporters by telling of dire situations.

We do not know which one is true and which one is not, regarding the Yongin land deal. Nonetheless, President Roh defines it as an illegitimate allegation, which does not sound reasonable at all. In addition, what if some part of the allegation turns out to be true? What would he do then? We are in a haze concerning the scandal. Actually, allegation after allegation is emerging over the land deal. Under these circumstances, he should have acted more prudently. It was careless for him to make his letter public, which was written to console Lee, and to criticize the newspapers. He simply cannot avoid our reprimands.

More seriously, the letter provides us with insight into his idea of a public figure and journalism, which seems gravely defective and biased. Lee belongs to the inner power circle, and was on the candidate list for presidential special aide—Lee was and is a public figure. Notwithstanding the fact, he used standards for ordinary citizens to evaluate Lee`s conduct. Roh was an attorney, and should have known better.

The press does not have the authority to investigate and prosecute, and, therefore, cannot report confirmed or verifiable facts all the time. The press, in short, is not the law enforcement agency. The standard of one differs from that of another. The public, however, has loved and trusted what they have read in the newspapers, since they knew and know the press has acted based on sound ethical principles and common sense. President Roh treats, in the letter, the reports in the papers as ill-intended allegations, further showing his lack of respect for the press.