[Opinion] Overnight Manuscripts

Frankly, I am worried about refuting the remarks and statements of President Roh and his secretaries because readers might find it tiresome. So these days, I tend to shun rebutting Roh’s remarks for the sake of the people’s mental health. Lee Byung-wan, the presidential chief of staff, stated during a speech on Monday at a meeting with overseas diplomatic missions that the Roh administration hasn’t made any major mistakes over the past four years while condemning the negative reports of the media.

Lee cited a survey that found that 98 percent of editorial articles had positive or optimistic tones during former President Chun Doo-hwan’s administration, but that now 89 percent of them have negative or critical tones. So what is the intention of comparing the press under the government that completely destroyed freedom of the press with the press under a democratic government? Is he saying the country was better off with the press under authoritarian rule than now? I wonder whether Lee, who worked for KBS during Chun’s administration, had ever protested against the dictatorial government while working at the broadcasting company that was airing heavily censored news. “President Roh attempted to crush the freedom of the press and change it as he pleases,” said Ji Myeong-gwan, who was the chairman of Roh’s presidential inauguration preparation committee. So will Lee ever admit the mistakes of the current administration’s policies on the press?

Lee gave a poor excuse for the housing price bubble, saying it is an international phenomenon. However, it is nothing but a pathetic excuse attempting to conceal the administration’s policy failure. The prices of medium and large-sized apartments in southern Seoul have soared almost 300 percent since the Roh administration took office. I wish he would ask the ambassadors participating in the meeting whether there is any other country beside Korea that is suffering from similar skyrocketing housing prices.

According to a survey by the Ministry of Finance and Economy, let alone other statistics, some 48,000 self-employed people were turned into simple laborers last year. However, he did not mention his faults at all in his speech in regard to his responsibility in misguiding the president.

Lee said that he stayed up the whole night to handwrite the manuscript of the address in person. However, when scripts are written at night, they tend to become too emotional or self-righteous. “The greatest asset of a leader is the ability to have a sound sleep at night,” former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson said. Politicians need a restful sleep at night in order to conduct state affairs with a clear mind during the daytime. I think the president should stop Internet surfing and Lee should not write his speeches late at night, for the sake of the people.

Hwang Ho-taek, Editorial Writer, hthwang@donga.com