(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Oct. 7)

Checks and Balances
Assembly Inspection Should Not Turn Into Blame Games

The National Assembly kicked off its annual inspection of government agencies Monday for a 20-day run.

The inspection draws much attention as it is the first
of its kind not only for the 18th Assembly but also for the Lee Myung-bak
administration. However, concerns are growing that the inspection might serve as
an arena for blame games between the governing Grand National Party (GNP) and the
opposition.
GNP lawmakers are focusing on what they describe as a decade of misrule by the
previous left-leaning governments under Lee's predecessors ??? former Presidents
Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Dae-jung. They think this year's inspection is the first and
last chance to shed light on policy blunders of the previous administrations as
the power transition moved from the liberals to the conservatives in February.
On the other hand, legislators of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) are
trying hard to dig into the Lee government's policy failures, incompetence and
corruption allegations. They will raise such issues as the government's
mismanagement of the economy and the scrapping of the sunshine policy of active
engagement with North Korea, which was advocated by Kim and Roh. They will also
find fault with the Lee administration over its handling of candlelit protests
against U.S. beef imports and the public scare about Chinese food imports tainted
with the harmful chemical melamine.
There is little doubt that people are fed up with ever-intensifying partisan
struggles between the two camps. Pundits argue that the Assembly inspection on
the government agencies can no longer serve its primary purpose of ensuring
checks and balances between the legislative and the executive. The inspection,
which was abolished by the dictatorial regime of President Park Chung-hee in the
early 1970s, was restored in 1988 riding the wave of the country's democratic
movement.
The inspection is aimed at scrutinizing the operation of the executive branch in
order to prevent the government from wielding unrestricted power and detect its
policy blunders and misadministration. In short, it is intended to monitor state
budget spending and the policymaking process to make sure that the government
delivers better policies for the people. However, every time the Assembly
conducts the inspection of government agencies in autumn, lawmakers of both the
ruling and oppositions parties jockey for partisan maneuvering.
It is not easy for the lawmakers to avoid criticism that they are busy waging a
dog-eat-dog struggle at a time when the economy is faltering. They should stop
playing blame games against each other in order to produce creative results
during the inspection. They had better concentrate on discussing how to prevent
the recurrence of misadministration and policy failures committed by both the
previous and incumbent governments.
It is not desirable for GNP representatives to only try to defend the Lee
administration or cover up its mistakes, while firing salvos against the misrule
of the liberal Roh government. It is also disappointing that DP and other
opposition legislators are attempting to go on mudslinging against the governing
camp. All the lawmakers are required to meet the people's expectation that they
can make joint effects to attain the democratic principle of checks and balances.
For this, they ought to put the public interest ahead of their selfish and
destructive partisan interests.
(END)