Half of Roh’s Pledges Are Unfulfilled

After three years in office as of February 2006, President Roh Moo-hyun still has not delivered on half of the 150 campaign pledges he made during the 2002 presidential election, according to a recent Dong-A Ilbo study.

Of the 150 pledges he made, 64 or 42.7 percent of the total, including opening an investigative agency on high-ranking corruption and restructuring government committees, are showing slow progress. Eleven pledges (7.3 percent), including the introduction of a residential recall system and easing workers’ tax burdens, have reportedly been abandoned.

Dong-A Ilbo conducted the survey to evaluate government performance on legislative, administrative, budgetary levels relating to its 150 promises, and each pledge was categorized into one of four groups: “completed; ongoing; slow progress; failure.” The survey consulted 51 experts in each field for advice, and also reflected government agency views.

The survey revealed that 73 pledges (48.7 percent), including ensuring transparency in political fund management and making key administrative services available online, are being carried out. Two promises (1.3 percent) were kept when the government held confirmation hearings for the top posts of the National Intelligence Service, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the National Police Agency, and enhanced family gender equality by scrapping the male-dominated Family Registry System.

Apart from pledge performance evaluations, reporters analyzed 12 key pledges and observed problems that seem to appear and reappear in the execution process.

Promises to ensure independent military and diplomatic policies, fair competition by keeping family-oriented large conglomerates in check, fair competition by reforming chaebols, and the promise to build an administrative capital were strongly pushed for by the government, but at the cost of deeper political, social, and economic conflicts.

Reporters also observed inefficiency regarding the fulfillment of six promises, including the realization of seven percent annual economic growth, national debt reduction, resolving Korea’s wealth disparity problem, and the promise to increase the size of Korea’s middle class to 70 percent of the nation.

But reporters also observed resolve and concrete measures on the part of the government regarding its pledges to cut the cost of elections, computerize key administrative processes, abolish the Family Registry System, and enhance gender equality.

Professor Lee Dal-gon of the Graduate School of Public Administration at Seoul National University said, “For the most part, Roh’s 2002 election pledges were intended to win votes. Now that he has only two years left, he should carefully select plans that can really benefit the nation and focus his energy on fulfilling them.”

Meanwhile, a government spokesperson said, “It is inappropriate to judge the government’s performance based on individual campaign promises because the government is working on large groups of pledges. We reviewed Roh’s campaign promises and prioritized them after his election.”

The Presidential Secretary’s Office analyzed 117 of Roh’s campaign pledges last year and reported that 53 had been fulfilled, 108 were in progress, 11 showed little progress, and five needed further work.