[Editorial] Whether the President be personally involved
in a Dispute on Progress
It is a commonplace affair that a president, as chief of the nation, communicates with the people through a statement or a press interview. It is a rare situation where he reveals opinions that are not directly related to the performance of the national administration through government media outlets. From such aspect, President Roh is exceptional to a great extent. He even replied to an article written by a minor public official to complement him. A diversity of opinion has emerged over such conduct by the president, saying either that it is unconventional or disgraceful.
Nevertheless, President Roh recently wrote an article on the public web pages of the Government Information Agency and of Cheong Wa Dae that heated up a dispute over progress. The article frankly revealed his thoughts on the rising criticism about the participatory government within the progressive camp. In the article entitled ‘Progress of the Republic of Korea Should be Changed’, Roh rejected criticism that the participatory government has no progressive policy and pointed out that any appraisal of the participatory government should be accompanied with grounds and evidence.
Roh also noted that a line in the participatory government is ‘flexible progress.’ The president certainly cannot remain silent about criticism on himself or on the government. However, it seems to be an overreaction when the president, with an insufficient amount of time to spend on national affairs, writes an explanatory article through the government media on some criticism of the progressive camp. Moreover, he wrote the article while preparing for a round of overseas visits.
It would be better to place the assessment of the ideological disposition of the government in the hands of scholars and historians, as that is their role. It is questioned whether it is desirable that President Roh personally associates with the dispute over progress. The nation is fully engaged in survival and the majority of the people hope that the president is more concerned with the public welfare than the dispute over progress. The nation expects Roh to manage the national administration well during the last year of his term in office.
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 / 입력시간: 2007. 02.21. 08:25
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