[Editorial] Political Consensus is Getting Far from National Referendum

A national referendum to test the public’s confidence in President is unlikely to happen this year. The floor leaders of the three opposition parties agreed to block a referendum plan. This implies the three opposition parties actually refused to accept the president’s request for discussing a national vote to ascertain the public’s confidence in his leadership. The situation is getting more and more frustrating. Even though President Roh suggested the date for a vote, its implementation is now in obscurity.

If so, this confused situation should be arranged by all means. We cannot drag those pros and cons forever. Some ministries are already prepared to shift their policies according to the result of “confidence in the president.” Some are saying that the issue of dispatching Korean army to Iraq will be concluded after the end of referendum. In such confusion, political vacuum and national disorder will drive a country into the corner.

The president still deserves to make a solution. First of all, he needs to disclose the truth regarding his closest aide, Choi Do-sul’s allegation. What the public really wants to know is whether the president is involved in the scandal. If this is not clearly confirmed, the opposition party said it will ask for either the special prosecution or a national audit. This may bring about a terrible political scenario.

President Roh may well reflect deeply on his past and the present, in order to realize where all this confusion has come from. The good news is that the Advisory Committee for Presidential Policy and Planning discussed voluntarily on the needs of changing the national administration and the president’s close positions. Not too many agreed that administrative reform should follow the president’s decision of asking public’s opinion on the president’s leadership.

The result showed that Roh’s statement, insisting that he have so far suffered from opposition party and the press, is far from the reality. Even the advisory committee, president’s think tank, has raised the necessity of innovation. From now on, President Roh should listen carefully to his direct counselor rather than focus on the outcome of the national referendum.