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On days of national celebration, when it's the prime minister's time to speak, the master of ceremonies will say, in stately fashion, "The Prime Minister will offer his 'respected words' next." That's how important a position he has -- one in which citizens cannot help but to listen to what he says. Lee Hai-chan, who finds himself in the prime minister's position, went to Europe and said, "Chosun and Dong-A, don't be cheeky," and "I feel uneasy because the Chosun and Dong-A are shaking the nation too much." Lee said, "The Chosun and Dong-A are in my hand" and "Who the hell are you to shake the nation?" Just listening up to this point alone, one wonders if these are really the "respected words" of a prime minister. If one said these might be the words of Nosamo (President Roh Moo-hyun's support group), you might say, "Well, they're that kind of people, so they might be," but not the words of a prime minister. No matter how drunken Prime Minister Lee may have been, his words really flowed non-stop.
What really hurts us is that Lee's utterances did not seem to have been decided upon subconsciously. He said, "I carefully read the Chosun Ilbo. The president doesn't," and, "How much has the Dong-A Ilbo carried distorted reports about me?" Lee's hostility toward the Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo was not simply his personally, but also a sentiment shared by the entire administration, including that of the chief executive. His utterances also positively revealed the background to the newspaper law that clearly seeks to squeeze the Chosun and Dong-A any way it could.
In fact, the relationship between power and the newspapers is normally uncomfortable. It's hard to believe any leader, regardless of how broad-minded he or she is, could think positively of a newspaper that spends day after day criticizing him or her. For a paper to play its role, however, it must tolerate this relationship, no matter how uncomfortable. This is because a newspaper cannot discard its natural mission to criticize those with power. Accordingly, if you were a properly thinking political leader in a proper nation, you would simply accept this relationship between power and the media as unavoidable and deal with it.
No newspaper from any nation can rashly attack an administration that has the support of the majority of citizens. If they were to do so, they'd be punished by their readers more than be targeted for political revenge by the administration. The Roh administration's support levels are hovering in the 20~30 percent range. Opposition outweighs support for every policy it proposes. The newspapers' criticism reflects this will of the citizens. It's common sense in this situation for an administration to ask itself why it has been forsaken by the people rather than spitting out its hatred and hostility toward the newspapers. This nation is not one that understands that yet.
Prime Minister Lee also said of the opposition party with whom he must conduct politics, "If the Grand National Party were ruling, history would regress. We will never ethically compromise with the conservatives and their unjust demands." The administration of the Republic of Korea enjoys these kinds of relationships with the newspapers and opposition party. This is the depressing and frustrating reality of our country.
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