The weapons consist essentially of four bills touted as "reform” legislation and the measures that accompany them. They are the press law, the private school law, the history law and the abolition of the National Security Law. Except for the National Security Law, they have all now passed, and the timing of Chung Sye-kyun's remarks means that preparations for the victory in the next presidential election are nearly complete. And since an extension of power requires firm foundations, it is clear that the ruling forces' four pieces of legislation have been advanced as part of a long-term strategy to cement them.

One foundation is control of the press. The government drafted the press laws in 2004 because it found it difficult to control the Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo although it had been successful in winning over most other media outlets. The press laws essentially aim at squeezing and isolating and thus indirectly suppressing these two dailies. If the Chosun and Dong-A can’t be brought under complete control, their reasoning goes, they can at least be singled out as “reactionary.”

The history law passed in May under the mantle of righting past wrongs will obviously play a key role in portraying privilege and former governments as enemies of the nation and the state. That, too, is an essential foundation for extending power. The Human Rights Commission, which keeps mum on North Korea’s human rights violations, advises greater participation by civil servants and teachers, no more government arbitration in labor disputes and a right to conscientious objection to military service. It is clear that this is an attempt to broaden the government’s support base.

The private school law railroaded through the last plenary session of the National Assembly, private school foundations agree, takes advantage of corruption in some private schools to achieve the infiltration of the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers Union into all educational institutions and, possibly, allowing the KTU to control them. The ruling forces have already secured 600,000 newly eligible voters by lowering the age of suffrage to 19. Now they have revealed their grand ambition to open the gates of institutions previously blessedly off-limits to the KTU and hence educating the younger generation according to their own ideology in a bid to foster a bigger support base. That is the ulterior motive that prompted them to take this seemingly irrational step in the face of massive opposition from religious leaders.

It remains to abolish the National Security Law. A ruling-party lawmaker a few days ago gave us a glimpse of the ulterior motive here when he called for railroading the issue through while the ruling camp is at it. But the itinerary in the matter is likely to depend on a decision whether it will really be favorable to the power extension plan. If the issue rekindles ideological controversy, some apparently fear, some supporters could waver. In any case, the handling of the four issues has finally exposed that the ruling party is in well advanced in preparing for another 10 years in power.

To justify this, the Uri Party chairman warns that if right-wing forces take power, it would create enormous tension between the two Koreas, have an adverse impact on the economy, and lead to a revamp of the tax and real estate systems in the interest of the top 2 percent of the population. Their strategy for recapturing power is to attack privilege or the upper class by stressing equal distribution, controlling information and education and promoting solidarity with North Korea.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young publicly addressed a North Korean official as "comrade” last week, and a ruling-party lawmaker not only attacked the U.S. ambassador for calling Pyongyang a “criminal regime” but threatened to sever ties with Washington. Some quarters even want the territorial provision in the Constitution rewritten so the Republic of Korea no longer claims legitimacy on the entire peninsula. Meanwhile, the National Intelligence Service steps into the breach to defend North Korea against allegations of currency forgery. What more is needed before we see that words and actions that tear at the very foundations of the state are rampant?

Amidst all this, the main opposition Grand National Party is committing the folly of acting as a handsome usher in the administration's attempt to extend its power. It does so by fielding a veritable army of competing candidates for the next presidential election, as if the race was merely over which GNP candidate will take the prize. For one reason or another, it seems, the ruling party is well on track to rule another decade.