[Editorial] Clearing Confusion Caused by Four-party Formation In Urgent Need

Thirty-nine lawmakers, who support President Roh Moo-hyun, will split from the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) and create a floor negotiation group today in a major realignment of the political landscape. The official launch of the new party is heralding four-way partisan contests ahead of next year`s general elections. For a majority of Koreans, it is lamentable to see the already anticipated split of the ruling party that won last year`s presidential election.

Whether to stay with the ruling party or to join the new party is a matter of individual choice. In turn, voters will judge whether lawmakers` choice was right or wrong. However, what`s disturbing is that the confrontation between the government and the ruling party will surely lead to undermining the interests of the nation as a whole.

It is difficult to draw a line to determine which party is a ruling party, either the MDP or a new party. President Roh Moo-hyun is partly responsible for such confusion because he has failed to clarify his position on his membership in the MDP. Even after his virtual support for the formation of a new party, the presidential office made it clear that the president would maintain his party membership for some time, leading to considerable public confusion.

Cheong Wa Dae said that President Roh Moo-hyun would leave the MDP as early as next month, thereby managing state affairs without partisan affiliation until the upcoming general elections in April next year. The changed configuration heralds a new political system with greatly different government-Assembly relations and may cause difficulties in dealing with state affairs.

To avoid undesirable situations, the president should relinquish his membership in the MDP and declare the new party as a governing party where the president belongs. In the upcoming general elections, voters will assess the performance of the president and his administration. Creating such a political atmosphere will be responsible politics.

The same is for seven lawmakers from the nationwide constituency who have already expressed their willingness to join the new party. They should be ashamed of their blind pursuit of vested interests and privileges by maintaining their membership in the MDP, even though they are politicians who have fought against old politics.