President Roh: I Am Ready to Devolve My Power to the Parliamentary Cabinet System Level

President Roh Moo-hyun noted on July 7, “If the inveterate and structural problem, the regional partition, in South Korea’s political makeup is normalized, I will be willing to devolve my presidential power to a level of the parliamentary cabinet system.”

On that day, during a press meeting attended by managing editors and newsroom directors of the 29 press outlets at the invitation of Cheong Wa Dae, President Roh said the above, stressing, “If while holding a measure in a bid to eliminate regional factionalism, the political circles earnestly negotiate with me, I am ready to negotiate about beyond a level of the parliamentary cabinet system.”

This is interpreted as a message that if forming a coalition government or reforming the current election system is actualized in a bid to break the deep-rooted regionalism and the ruling minority and opposition majority structure, the some Cabinet seats, including a prime minister seat, might be consigned to the opposition parties.

President Roh proposed negotiations to reform the political makeup, saying, “Once the ruling and the opposition parties reach an agreement, the specific time to resolve the matter of the political structure is not critical.”

Regarding the plan of forming a coalition government, President Roh reiterated his volition to push ahead with forming a coalition government, saying, “I raised this issue, thinking that forming a coalition government should not be condemned as an immorality, since forming a coalition government is a legitimate and justifiable political move that has been recognized world-wide and universally, and I beg the public to understand such a move can be attempted in an open or closed-door manner in South Korea as well.”

President Roh suggested, “If all of the opposition parties stand together, in theory, the opposition majority structure will emerge, and if the opposition parties call for me to relinquish power after banding together, I will be willing to concede my authority. Let’s make an effort to put into practice “talk politics.” If it is not possible, let’s form a small-scale coalition government or a large-scale coalition government.”

Concerning real estate policies, President Roh emphasized, “It is proper to mobilize all kinds of available and legitimate means,” adding, “The reason why the government has thrown its energy into curbing real estate speculation is that there is a huge sense of loss among ordinary people if there exits polarization generated from the speculation.. Therefore the government has come up with real estate policies like waging war against speculators.”

President Roh pledged an increase in the housing supply, saying, “I will order the public sector to offer enough housing by using low interest rates so that the public can not make excessive profits on housing prices through putting possession taxes and capital gains taxes into housing prices due to lower supply and higher demand.

In addition, President Roh noted, “Real estate is a necessity of people’s lives and the basic need of ordinary people as well as the basis for the nation’s competitiveness in the long term,” adding, “If the current real estate bubble vanishes, South Korea might face a financial crisis again as well as a protracted economic recession like Japan’s 10-year economic recession, thus, the real estate bubble must be eliminated.”

Jung-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com