Nomad’s right—President Roh needs a hug.
I thought we’d heard the last of the “I’m going to quit” nonsense out of the Commander-in-Chief, but apparently not. You’d have thought that four years into the job and several veiled threats to resign later, he’d have learned that some things are just better left unsaid.
Yes, Mr. President, you’re a lame duck… a “vegetable president,” as the turn of phrase goes. But it’s no use bemoaning your lot in life… at best, it makes you sound like a wuss, and at worst, it confuses the hell out of all of us.
As much as I dislike—to put it mildly—some of Roh’s ideas, particularly in the way of foreign policy, I do feel sorry for him. Not because of his public pity party, but because in a way, I appreciate that he’s tried—going very much against the grain of Korean political tradition, mind you—to behave as an elected head of state in a democratic society should.
The problem is, he’s tried a little too hard—he’s tolerated nonsense from the GNP that, given his party’s parliamentary majority, he probably shouldn’t have tolerated, and his insistence on creating a committee to study each and every policy initiative has robbed the country of leadership and ensured government moved at a glacial pace… if at all. All understandable, of course—having been raised in a land of military dictators, Roh made a conscious effort to make sure that his administration would be different. And it was, but the Korean public expects its leaders to act like, well, leaders. The voters can forgive politicians running roughshod over opposition as long as they are perceived as getting results—see former Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak, who is probably the most popular politician in the country right now. They are a lot less forgiving, however, with government inaction or, even worse, incompetence.
The sad thing is, when combined with the hostility Roh received from the press—some of it deserved, some of it not—and the general nastiness of Korean politics, Roh’s leadership style—as well intentioned as it may have been—made him a virtual lame duck from the moment he took office. And it didn’t have to be that way.
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22 Comments
Thank you for saving me from having to post on the latest abortion of a statement to come out of Roh’s mouth.
I think it’s funny how the papers always describe his threats to quit as “bombshells”. Ha!
Oh, and I have a request… is it possible to change the posting format to the way it was, with the name of the blogger (or guest-blogger) at the TOP of the post?
Thanks.
Five year terms are just too short of a time to introduce and implement policies that work - even for Roh. Common sense is what’s lacking in the Korean governments of the past and present.
Who could blamed? Roh brought his shrinking presidency himself with his unpractical ideology and unpredictable words.
If he does it, my respect for him as well as my hope for Korea will increase.
Rho was an unprepared president. He had no idea about economy, national defense, history and world affairs.
He had no college education. When he went to the US, it was the first time out of the country. He was a basically country bumpkin with no education.
When he got the post, he was impeached. Gogun ran the country. When he came back, he hid behind the secretary of state and let him run the country.
Rho came back six months ago after the secretary is ousted. He is messing up ever since.
This man got to go. He has weakened the national defense of Korea to the max. He encouraged Commies to rise up against the average Koreans who has no intention of kowtowing to KJI.
Rho was a Commie in the middle of people who hates KJI. Only him and Kim DaeJung think SK should combine with NK no matter what. Even under KJI. Mad men.
Rho got to go. If he is an honorable man, he will quit now. He has done enough damage already.
The worst thing this dummy did was to let the US pull out of Korea thinking that South Korea can defend itself.
What a fool! Even every defense specialist in the country disagree with him, Rho still think the US is not needed for Korean defense.
He would not listen! He thinks he knows better than these people who have spent their lifetime studying national defense. He relies on his Commie friends’ opinion that the US troops are not needed in Korea.
His stupidity will result in a war. A war that will bring thousands and thousands of dead bodies. Rho has done that. Don’t make any excuses for this dum-dum. He has done that.
President Reagan was uneducated and stupid. But, he surrounded himself with smart people and let these smart people run the country.
Rho is stupid. Yet, he surrounded himself with equally stupid people and he wouldn’t listen to these people. He thinks his ideology(Commie ideology) comes first.
He’s got to go.
Huh?Baduk, I don’t think his educational background lack his presidency.
“… he withdrew his nomination of a female judge, Chon Hyosuk, as the head of the Constitutional Court in the face of strong objections from the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP).”
I don’t know much about governance, but shouldn’t he express his political authority by nominating a candidate that is politically alligned with him? Folding to the opposition’s pressure, especially when your own party holds the majority, is a sign of weakness.
(folding under the pressure) (when his own)
“Rho is stupid. Yet, he surrounded himself with equally stupid people…” It’s tempting to agree with this. Still, he was the “accidental president” who if I remember right did not expect to win, and only became a viable candidate because Chung “spoiled brat” Mong-joon bowed out. He was obviously unprepared to lead.
It would be great if the next president was more centrist and didn’t play regional politics, but the demand to field such a candidate has to come from the people themselves.
Goodbye then.
The Korean people deserve better than Noh but they’re the ones who elected him. As much as I like Koreans and admire their culture, the irrational emotionalism is annoying on a general level and downright pathetic when it comes from the President.
I guess the standard bedside headshot of him hospitalized for stress is coming next. I hope I have enough Kleenex with me when I see it.
This is pathetic.
If he wants to quit that much then why did he run for president?
Roh’s administration would have been quite positive IF the ROK was a ‘normal’ country. Unfortunately, the ROK is not a normal country, but rather a divided nation still in a state of unresolved civil war. Roh’s administration has been amateurish at best and incompetent at its worst. It is not enough to have good intentions, you have to be able to act with ability to protect and defend the national interests. Korean politics has MUCH that is dysfunctional about it, Roh has not helped address those problems IMHO.
I second the motion by Seth Gecko.
Nice summary of Roh’s president Rob. Couldn’t have been written better.
This is Classic Roh — feigned humility without any chance of him going through with his threat, while attempting to shake up the political landscape and the nation. In the process he has in the past — but less likely today with a wiser, wearier nation — created turmoil that has diverted national resources from more productive pursuits.
While he cannot be fairly blamed for the total result, this kind of irresponsible “leadership” of off-the-cuff survival politics at the expense of the country has been largely responsible for S Korea’s ranking to slip diplomatically and economically. It is not surprising that the opposition is calling for him to hang in there and finish term of office. The opposition cynically recognizes that the longer and his supporters hold office, the better they will look for the scheduled presidential elections.
In the unlikelihood, should Roh step down early, the costs of an unscheduled election would be gigantic — and that would be his final legacy.
Hoo, boy — wotta country.
The funny thing is that this sort of nonsense is pretty tame for Korean politicians. After all, they have have been known to make sexist comments aimed at female assembly members, punch, kick and throw shoes at each other,and even kick and scream like a 2 year-old while rolling on the floor of the national assembly.
This is not much of a threat coming from a guy whose public approval ratings are at almost single digit levels. So much posturing, so little governance. No wonder some people are nostalgic for PCH.
I agree with Baduk 100% but he fails to see the whole picture. Noh has singlehandedly destroyed the counter culture movement of Korea for the next 30 years. Yes, defense is down but it can yet be salvaged. It is more important that liberals in Korea will never come into power again for a whole generation. However, reform in the GNP was and is needed. Many things need to change in regards to FTA, labor reform, corporate governance, schools, and the eventual change into an all volunteer army. Listen guys–the Norks only can attack South Korea by conventional weapons within a decade, their degradation of coventional arms every year is certain without a massive upgrade. The nuke is the only real monkey wrench.
I remember back in the day when Roh was elected, and I thought, well, this guy used to be friends with some freaks, but he might be better than GNP. How I am eating my words. Only reason he was elected and saved from impeachment was due to GNP bungling. I guess it’s Hannara now, but these guys all have a way of wearing different hats every few years…
Anyway, at the time Roh was elected, lots of Koreans were hopeful that he could reduce general corruption and regional politics. But his failures are just too striking. To steer Korea from the path of war is very understandable, but he did it in the most foolish way imaginable. In the end his presidency will be remembered for:
1. Failure to move the capital
2. Failure in bringing historical “justice”
3. Failure with Sunshine policy simultaneously failing to uphold North Korean human rights.
4. Failure to sign any FTA while simultaneously failing to satisfying farmers and unions.
5. Failure to bridge Korea’s regional rivalry
6. Severely straining diplomatic ties with US, Japan, and China (yes them too)
7. Weaking ROK military posture (remember how he did nothing after DPRK sunk boats?)
If he really resign, then that would be a tremendous political achievement where a leader acknowledges he is a f&8k up and takes responsibility.
Kim Jae Gyu… His statue should replace Lee Soon Shin
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