New Uri Party floor leader Chung Sye Kyun says his party is going to pursue an ever more pragmatist approach, placing the greatest emphasis on the economy as it relates to the people's welfare.
"The welfare of the people and reform are inseparable, like two sides of the same coin," he said. "Reform has to happen for the people's welfare to come to life, and the people's welfare has to be at the center of reform for reform to win the people's support and thereby succeed." While it sounds as if he is placing equal importance on reform and the people's welfare, by emphasizing "reform that is centered on the people's welfare," he was placing more weight on the popular economy. It is a sign he will take a different approach than former floor leader Chun Jung Bae, who talked of reform in no uncertain terms, saying "reform comes first and reform comes second."
Chung said also that when it comes to major reform legislation the final outcome is just as important as the will to make it happen and the goals of reform, and he is calling that "reform that succeeds." About the National Security Law (NSL), he said the party's position that it would seek to strengthen criminal law following the NSL's abolition and that the agreement between floor leaders of the different parties about dealing with the NSL in February's extraordinary session of the National Assembly remains valid. The floor leader of the ruling party is right to talk about the ability to implement policy and compromise between ruling and opposition parties. One worries, however, and in no small way, about his will to make reform happen and the direction he would like to see it take, because one understands his emphasis on the common man's economy to mean he will be reserved about the thorny issue of reform his emphasis on compromise to mean he will not stand by the principles. If that's what Chung's pragmatism is all about, then it needs to be tunneled down a different track.
Our society is full of things that need radical surgery before there is talk of pragmatism. Such is the case with the evil ghost of the Division, the NSL, and the tyrannical behavior of strong private education foundations, media, and jaebeol continues to be an obstacle to creating a world that is just and transparent. It is because the people believed Uri Party's promises about enacting reform in those areas that they voted to make it the majority party in the National Assembly.
Uri needs to get its house in order and get itself organized for reform so that it can operate based on the principle of rule by majority vote, and by doing so respond to the hopes of civic society. Reform and the people's welfare in no way run contrary to each other, and the disparity between different areas in our society – a critical issue as far as the people's welfare is concerned, is something that will require fundamental reform to resolve.
The Hankyoreh, 26 January 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Concerned About 'Reform that Succeeds |
