[Opinion] Members for Peace and Reform

A year ago, Uri Party leader Kim Geun-tae brought in a stray female dog and named it “Uri.” He named its three puppies “Peace,” “Prosperity,” and “Unity.” This is the story Kim shared at the third anniversary of the foundation of the Uri Party on November 10. “Peace” and “Prosperity” came from the peace and prosperity policy, the Roh Moo-hyun administration’s version of the Sunshine Policy, and “Unity” seemed to reflect the hope to reunite with the Democratic Party. Considering Kim named the puppy “Unity,” he looks quite nervous.

After the December 17 workshop, the leadership of the Uri Party stated on the party direction that, “We have reached consensus on the unity of the members calling for peace and reform.” The party will hold a party convention to decide on its future course on February 14, 2007. When it ditched the Democratic Party and established the Uri Party, it argued for “the unity of the members.” The Uri Party members were the ones united for peace and reform. Now what are they calling for?

It is hard to grasp who are the members for peace and reform. Even President Roh Moo-hyun wrote in his letter to the party members on December 4, “I don’t know what the identity of the united new party is and who the participating members are.” The administration scrapped “reform,” having thought the word was outdated and mentioned “innovation” for a while, and now it is using “reform” again. Peace, prosperity, unity, reform, innovation and participation. These are all good words, yet they have lost value and merit since they were polluted by the ruling party and the administration.

Nobody would be against peace and reform. Yet, those who do not join the movement of the united new party are to be criticized as anti-peace (cold war) and anti-reform (conservatism). In his letter to the public on December 17, Kim used “cold-war conservatives.” This is the tactic of choice to stigmatize the opposed. Are 90 percent of the Koreans who do not support the Uri Party cold-war conservatives? Those politicians who are incompetent spin doctors have no bright future.

Lee Jin-nyong, Editorial Writer, jinnyong@donga.com