A Notice of a Wholesale Storm of Audit and Inspection in Politics

With President Roh Moo-hyun’s proposal that his call for a confidence evaluation at an administrative policy speech of the National Assembly on October 13 as a signal shot, the administration party announced that radical reform will be made for the purpose of overthrowing decomposition, regionalism, and unreasonableness in the public office.

They insisted that President Roh, as he has stressed repeatedly “does not intend to or is not able to do the ‘artificial audit and inspection’ or ‘trial to reform the politics.’ “But they explained that it is difficult to avoid the prosecution’s whirlwind investigation for audit and inspection because President Roh casts a confidence evaluation card by undertaking the moral responsibility for a scandal involving Choi Do-sul, the former presidential secretary for general affairs and the SK Group. The Grand National Party (GNP), the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), and even the People’s Participatory United New Party (PPUNP) are not free from the suspicion of receiving bribes from enterprises related to the elections.

The main official of the administration party said anonymously, “By throwing himself with his feeling of suicide by disembowelment, President Roh seems to have an aim to accomplish political reform not only by fundamentally exposing scandals but also by broad investigation and reformation over the decomposition politics.” It is collusion with the president’s speech in which Roh said, “We have to cut the ring of a vicious circle. Apart from the number, if the nation has a suspicion on me, I will dare to be judged by the nation.”

According to his aides, President Roh has remarkably spoken nowadays as if he is taking a serious view of the accomplishment of the political reform rather than the presidency.

Lawmaker Park Yang-soo of the PPUNP said, “President Roh has been in agony for a long time to reform the ‘political surroundings’ under his judgment that discriminations related to him cannot be put an end by Roh’s apology or judicial discretion for the scandal of Choi. From now on, the time to confess of the whole politics will be arrived.” He hinted that wholesale exposing scandals would be achieved to a structure of the “food chain” of the public office, which is connected directly with the livelihood of the people.

An official of the Blue House said anonymously, “President Roh judged that it is impossible to reform or discharge his duties unless he fundamentally improves the ‘political surroundings,’ that the opposition party and some press bracketed his legs without reasonable reason,” and conveyed that, “Even though he will be a scapegoat, he presents a firm determination that he will cut the conference of the vested power by presenting his own fault first.” He also forecasted, “By this, moral propriety of the MDP, which was the base of operation of the influential men of the last regime, will fall to the ground, and the reformers such as the PPUNP, movement to the unification will appear firstly. At the same time, the claims for the cut from the decomposition will spread to the GNP, and the liberal reformers will exercise their influence over the public nomination unlike the last’s only conservative way.” The administration party expects that as a result of it, unlike the last reorganization of government setups from the upper part, each party compete internally for the reformative survival. And to the relationships to other parties and the Blue House, the policy competitive structure, which makes it possible to have “rational communication” instead of the “hostile relationship” can be further nurtured.

Sung-Won Park swpark@donga.com