Roh’s Egoistic Stubbornness Hamstringing Successful Launch of New Administration

Roh is about to leave office in about a month. Despite his ending term, critics point out that the president does not want to end his famous revengefulness and hostility to the last minute.

Ever since Lee Myung-bak won the presidential election, Roh has railed against each and every policy and move of President-elect Lee and his transition committee. Even worse, at the January 22 Cabinet meeting, he implied that he would veto Lee’s legislation overhauling the government structure, saying, “The bill is against my belief and philosophy.”

○ Roh Trying to Force-Feed His Thoughts to New Administration

Throughout the Korean history, no retiring president had ever attempted to stampede the incoming administration’s plan to reorganize the government. It’s almost like forcing President-elect Lee to accept Roh’s philosophy and beliefs. The incoming administration should be operated pursuant to the philosophy and beliefs not of Roh, but of Lee. Roh is practically telling Lee, “I don’t like your ideas. If you want a new governing system, you do it once you take office.”

Should Roh insists on his belief, the incoming Lee administration has to start its term without appointing ministers, void of its envisioned government structure. If Lee appoints ministers within the old frame, he has to pick new replacements within a couple of months from the inauguration next month. Furthermore, the imminent general elections slated for April might deter the launch of the new government system for a long time.

Critics also point out that the timing of Roh`s remarks was inappropriate. The National Assembly should first handle the matter. Only one day has passed since its introduction to the Assembly. Then, Roh popped the threat. As a matter of fact, lawmakers have not even begun to examine it yet. Therefore, we cannot brush away the impression that Roh is trying to manipulate the parliamentary debates on the bill to his favor.

Presidential spokesperson Cheon Ho-seon told reporters, “According to the procedure, the incumbent president and administration take responsibility for the reshuffling plan as well. We will let our thoughts known through our official briefings and statements of ministers regarding the level of overhaul Cheong Wa Dae thinks appropriate.”

○ Broken Promise of Full Cooperation

Roh’s veto threat has turned the public attention away from the transition committee and the Grand National Party (GNP). Roh’s new move portrayed the political scene as the confrontation between the retiring and the incoming presidents. Thereby, Roh seems keen on wielding his political grip to the last day of his term. In addition, his men in the Assembly have been devastated since the presidential election, and it could have triggered Roh to roll up his sleeves to save his sinking liberal camp.

Roh has argued what a politician ought to do. But his recent moves do not seem to be in line with his past arguments.

For example, watching Lee win the December 19 election by a huge margin, Roh commented, “I honor the result. Democracy means honoring even one’s own defeat.”

Then, at the ensuing December 28 meeting with President-elect Lee, Roh promised to help Lee as much as he could. Then, again on December 31, Roh promised in a statement that he would devote his remaining days to laying down better grounds for the new administration.

Despite the harmonious overtures on the surface, Roh has been trying to stab Lee in the back on every opportunity he got. At a New Year’s ceremony attended by ministers and deputy ministers held on January 3, he spent 50 minutes of his speech chastising Lee’s educational policies and his promise to construct cross-national canals.

The very next day, Roh criticized the transition committee as well at a meeting with business leaders, saying, “I feel myself too humbled these days. The committee members look like spitting on my face. If they continue, I will also play hardball. I may get hurt. But I don’t care.”

National Intelligence Service Director Kim Man-bok had leaked a classified transcript of his dialogues in Pyongyang. Facing harsh public criticism, Kim submitted his resignation on January 15. At the same time, the prosecution defined the transcript as an object of national interest, and started an unofficial probe. Roh, however, is refusing to accept the resignation. On the contrary, he’s been arguing through his spokesperson that the transcript does not carry significance as classified information, conspiring to turn the situation to his favor yet again.

Professor Hwang Sang-min of Psychology at Yonsei University analyzed, “Roh seems to know only ‘me, my, and myself.’ He’s, thus, forcing others to swallow his ideas. He’s crossed the line. His irrational stubbornness would continue to the last day of his term.”

jin0619@donga.com