The same spot recently hosted a gathering commemorating the two middle school girls who died in an accident with a U.S. military armored vehicle. It cannot be said that this clash of political ideas in the street is a mature society at work. The reason we have so many political issues pushing for position in the streets is in no small part because of the government’s poor handling of the situation.

Normally, in democratic societies, differences of opinion are expressed through voting, and not through street assemblies. The very government that was born through the voting process must lift the forces that fought each other in the election to a higher level, to national reconciliation; this is what representative government is supposed to be about. This government of ours, however, has instead furthered the conflicts that surfaced during the election. The citizens out in the street were there with little choice, having been left out of the government’s current course of action.

Saturday's rally was a gathering of 110,000 likeminded people, not some group out for its own interest asking for a larger share of the pie. All they want is national security and economic stability. During the gathering you heard participants voice concerns about “blind fantasies about the Kim Jong Il regime,” “the twisted ideologically-loaded teachings of members of the Jeongyojo teachers union,” and “the cracks in the US-Korea alliance and the subsequent concerns about economic collapse.” These were voices speaking for many in the country who are worried about the current directions of government affairs.

National security and economic stability are the bare minimum of what the government should be doing in the first place. Members of the government need to give deep thought to just why 110,000 people cry out in the streets for the obvious.

Among those present on Sunday was the father of Sergeant Hwang Dohyeon, who was killed during the gun battle in the West Sea a year ago. He told participants that his father had also been killed by North Korea, during the war. The sacrifice this family has made for the nation is more profound than anything money can buy. When he said that “people have memorialized the two middle school girls for well over a year, but don’t even remember the men who died for the country,” Sergeant Hwang’s father must have felt like he was vomiting blood.

This government needs to see that the hearts of the 110,000 gathered that day were enraged no less than Sergeant Hwang’s father, and set a straight course for the country. June 23, 2003