[EDITORIAL]Saving the ruling party

[EDITORIAL]Saving the ruling party The pendulum of Korean political psychology has swung back the other way. The approval ratings for the ruling Uri Party and President Roh Moo-hyun have nearly halved since the chief executive triumphantly returned to his office in May cheered by his Uri colleagues who had clinched a majority of 152 seats in the new National Assembly by riding on a strong backlash against the opposition-initiated presidential impeachment. Much can be said about the nation's public mentality, easily burning hot and quickly disenchanted. But one does not have to make a deep academic analysis to determine the cause of the rapid downturn in the ruling party's popularity because it is the consequence of a number of its own blunders. First, there was the controversy over the naming of a new prime minister to start what the ruling camp called the second phase of the Roh presidency, to succeed Goh Kun who acted as president during Roh's suspension. A recent turncoat from the GNP, former South Gyeongsang governor Kim Hyuk-kyu was chosen and naturally the opposition party took it as a deliberate political provocation. A good many Uri members also disliked the choice and Roh eventually canceled the nomination, smearing a new start. In a party which had its floor strength more than tripled overnight, with first-time lawmakers making up two-thirds of its Assembly seats, orderly control can hardly be expected anyway. Still, the noise from inside the party was loud enough to disappoint the electorate. The disruptive issues ranged from the planned dispatch of 3,000 additional troops to Iraq to an election platform to stabilize housing costs. The entry of three leading party figures into the cabinet - Chung Dong-young to Unification, Kim Geun-tae to Health-Welfare and Chung Dong-chea to Culture-Tourism - seemed to be a sharing of the spoils. The squabbling among the appointees over who should get the higher ranked portfolio was particularly disappointing. The kidnap-murder of Kim Sun-il by Iraqi militants, which made many distressed people at home point to government incompetence, the belated disclosure of intra-party "donations" by a proportional representation candidate to ensure her selection, and a number of Uri members voting to deter the arrest of a GNP lawmaker accused of illegal electioneering all happened in quick succession, alienating many former supporters of the party and administration. The lobbying by the editor of a pro-government Internet news portal in the name of the new culture minister for his wife's professorship at a Seoul university was also a damaging episode, although it could be an irrelevance. With media outlets headlining these "scandals" day after day, approval rates plummeted from the 50-60 percent range upon Roh's reinstatement to 25 percent for the president and 27 percent for the party in the latest opinion poll. We can't tell how far the giddy fall will continue and how many more embarrassing news stories will emerge from the 18-month-old ruling group. Some insiders, such as self-styled party ideologue Rep. Ryu Shi-min, complain that the media blows minor troubles out of proportion to portray them as major disasters. Many citizens do hope that these incidents remain as "minor troubles." But the real problem is that outsiders can hardly detect a trustworthy leadership guiding the young party and its young members toward effectively supporting and leading the administration. Present party chairman Shin Ki-nam and floor leader Chun Jung-bae have yet to prove their capabilities. Lacking strong personal charisma developed through tough political struggles, as usually seen in their predecessors, the two top leaders need to be more spontaneous and energetic in tackling party affairs. As the stewards of a majority party which has avowedly started a new politics of high productivity in constructive inter-party relations, they should work harder to set up a fresh national agenda and create internal consensus before differences are exposed to the general dismay of citizens.