NPAD floor leader must look back on his own party first

New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) floor leader Woo Yoon-geun proposed to form a special committee on constitutional revision to develop a bill for constitutional revision and put it up for referendum during next year’s general election at his speech at the National Assembly on Wednesday. In addition, Woo suggested creation of a national tax reform committee for the fundamental tax system reform. These proposals were made as one of the alternatives to resolve social conflict, which is being heightened as time goes by. “We must break down the root cause for strife, a winner-takes-all system and practices, where power, capital and opportunities are all taken by few,” Woo said. Compared to the previous opposition party floor leaders who have focused on criticism against the president, Woo’s speech is more like "seeking truth from empirical evidences."

An estimation shows that loss generated by social conflict and strife in Korea amounts to 16.4 trillion won (approx. 15.10 billion U.S. dollars). To that extent, Korean society has been deep in severe feud and division across almost all social areas. Most of the conflicts have been created by wrong political practices, which are self-oriented and reject others’ opinion. Even the politics, which need to coordinate and mitigate such conflicts, are now fanning the flame of strife. A good example would be the internal chaos inside the NAPD party, preparing for Feb. 8 election to select a new party leader leadership.

Rep. Moon Jae-in and Park Jie-won, candidates for the upcoming election, are supported respectively by pro-Roh (faction that supports former late president Roh Moo-hyun) and Honam region, southwest areas in Korea. Candidates who want to become the main opposition party chairman are now in a mud-sliding fight, divided by pro-Kim Dae-jung faction and pro-Roh Moo-hyun group. Even the wife of former late President Kim Dae-jung, Mrs. Lee Hee-ho, sided with one faction. As the election is just around the corner, it is pathetic to see the politicians belatedly started fighting over election rules. NAPD Rep. Park Jie-won made a cynical comment, “Brutal act of pro-Roh faction,” and Rep. Moon Jae-in retorted, “This is the lowest-quality debate ever.” During the debate, Rep. Lee In-young from another party tried to get out of the venue.

Some members of the NAPD are concerned about social conflict, while others are busy growing the strife. It is quite confusing to tell which one is real character of the party. Those who gathered to make the main opposition party a healthy counterpart to the ruling party are desperately seeking to have the party hegemony, rather than competing with each other for better vision. Confrontation between Moon and Park has developed to a full-scale war. Some raise concerns that the party may break up after the election for party leadership. NAPD must look back on its true intention before worrying about social conflict.