[Opinion] Tinge of Responsibility

The word “apology” comes from the Greek word “apologia,” a combination of “apo (fall)” and “logo (word)” that means “free oneself from sin.” Korean psychologist Lee Min-kyu said in his book entitled “There is 1-percent difference in people with attractive personality” that the biggest gain from apologizing lies in removing one’s emotional guilt and becoming a more thoughtful person. He emphasized that people should admit their mistakes and apologize, instead of making excuses.

President Lee Myung-bak made people fret over his yet another controversial remark regarding the designation of candidates for ministerial posts, saying, “We have a small tinge of responsibility.” The word “tinge” means a trace or slight degree of some color and indicates that although he admitted he is partly to blame for the current state of affairs, he feels there is just a little to put blame on him. His remark gave the impression that he blames others more than he does himself. No wonder the opposition party said, “Does he mean the opposition party and the people should take the rest of the blame?”

Since President Lee picked the candidates himself, he should be responsible for the mess caused by the inadequate selection of candidates. Unfortunately, he is resorting to excuses, saying that the pool of candidates was too small or that he did not have good access to appointment verification data. A true leader would have considered such factors beforehand and come up with adequate appointments. If Lee had wanted to put things right, he should have made an outright apology for selecting candidates with many shortcomings, even though he faced difficulties such as the de facto concealment of personnel data by the former government.

Among many reasons why people lost confidence in the former administration, its tendency to avert responsibility was the biggest factor behind its fall. Whenever the situation worked against it, it was quick to pass the buck to others such as the press, people, institutions or even the history. If President Lee does not want to make the same mistake, he must learn how to apologize and take responsibility to earn the trust of the people.