[Opinion] Presidential Apology

It is the same occurrence in the U.S. and in Korea that a presidential apology is required for a critical political event or a national calamity. Compared to Koreans, Americans apologize for small things, automatically saying they are sorry for such small things. Regular people’s apologies contain his/her admittance for their mistakes as well as asking for understanding and forgiveness, and they are usually well accepted. However, the president, the symbol of authority who represents the whole country, tends to not apologize as much as the regular people do since they have political and legal responsibilities.

▷ George W. Bush refused to apologize for his inability to prevent the 9.11 terror attacks. However, he unwillingly said that he was sorry regarding the harsh treatments on the Iraqi prisoners. It was in a speech at the White House’s garden after having a talk with the sultan of Jordan on May 6. Near the end of the speech, he said, “I have said to Sultan Abdullah that I apologize for the disgrace and pain that the prisoners and their families had to suffer.” He used an indirect narrative, “said that I apologize,” to a king of a third country, and not to any representative of the Iraqi people or of their families. However, Americans considered this as an apology.

▷ The apology from the president in Korea is quite different from the American one in its form and content. Many people will remember that the former presidents apologized for corruption cases related to their associates or to their sons, economic difficulty, money sent to North Korea, abuse of public authority, and other reasons. They would usually read their special statement to the people with a grave face in a solemn atmosphere. Another common thing between them is that they choose the timing when the incident meets a critical point to relieve the people’s fury and to seek political solutions. The oppositional parties’ voting for President Roh’s impeachment can be a reaction to his refusal to follow this custom of apology.

▷ Of course, the best policy would be if the president does not do anything which would make him have to apologize in the first place. If that happened inevitably, a good timing and presentation as well as the proper expressions and its content are essential elements of an apology to maximize its effects. The more important things, however, are genuine feelings of sorry, sense of responsibilities regarding the mistake, and his/her will not to repeat the same mistake. Conventional (Formal) apology that does not have genuine substance will only call for another apology.

Washington Correspondent Kwon Soon-taek, maypole@donga.com