Roh Was Given 45 Points out of 100 for Administration of State Affairs

Lawmakers of both ruling and opposition parties gave President Roh Moo-hyun a C in terms of national administration for the past six months.

The Donga Ilbo`s political desk conducted a survey on a total of 272 lawmakers by phone August 19-20. Out of them, 138 responded, with an average score of 44.8 out of a full 100.

The questionnaire is based on a four-point scale: best (Score 100-80), good (80-60), bad (60-40) and worst (40-20). The score of 44.8 is equal to a C.

Assessing Roh`s ability to administer state affairs, opposition Grand National Party (GNP) members gave 34.1 points on average, while ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) members gave 58.6, showing a stark contrast.

Asked about the reason for the current political disarray under the new government, 44.9% of the respondents pointed out his unstable leadership. And 17.4% of them said so-called "code-politics," in which Roh took sides with leftists who have the same code as him, and 12.3% indicated his unprepared staff.

Asked to choose the best minister in the Roh government, MDP members picked up Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun, while GNP members put Finance-Economy Minister Kim Jin-pyo, and Justice Minister Kang kum-sil on top of the list.

For the question of what six months into the presidency, the president should put emphasis on, both ruling and opposition party members raised the issue of economic recovery.

In this survey, 73 out of 149 GNP members, 59 out of 101 MDP members and 6 United Liberal Democrats and independent lawmakers responded. Those who refused to answer were excluded from the analysis.

Yeon-Wook Jung jyw11@donga.com