[Editorial] Put an End the Dispute with President’s Apology

With 40 days before the General Election, one cannot expect that the presidential impeachment proposal brought up by the opposition party will bring about favorable responses. The Millennium Democratic Party Chairman Chough Soon-hyung says that “it is one of the possible scenarios, but we believe that the nation is capable of handling the situation as the president is relieved of his duties, and the prime minister takes on the role of the acting president when the impeachment resolution is passed.” However, is it a right decision?

If the impeachment proposal is approved by the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court has to decide on the propriety of the case within six months. A void in national affairs and confusion are inevitable. We will have a president, but he will not be able to do much during that six months. In most cases, therefore, the president voluntarily resigns before the vote once the impeachment is put in motion. Former U.S. President Richard Nixon resigned because of his Watergate scandal.

Does the election law violation of President Roh, his failure to stay neutral as a civil servant, hold enough gravity to initiate the proposition of impeachment, or his voluntary resignation? What would happen if the president refuses to resign even with the Assembly’s approval of the impeachment to have the Constitutional Court examine the case? Or what if he calls for a national vote of confidence on his presidency? A responsible opposition should have confident answer to these questions. If this is, by any chance, a smart scheme for the election, the opposition will not be able to avoid criticism from the public.

The president should also be cautious in not giving any grounds for such claims. If the National Election Commission should find his action to be a violation of the law, he should respect the decision and apologize to the people. His superfluous remarks are only inducing the opposition to take extreme counter measures. The president in charge of national affairs should be different from the opposition. He should not be seen to be quarrelling with the opposition.

The president should immediately offer his apology and the opposition should withdraw the impeachment. That will be the win-win politics. The argument about being right or wrong should be left for the voters to decide at the general election.