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President, Kim Dae-jung, insisted that Korean government establish a low-cost and highly efficient political system. The special committee, which comprised of four lawmakers from both the National Congress for New Politics and the United Liberal Democrats, agreed on a package of electoral system reform measures. However,their initial agreement was criticized by many people after just a day. The contents of the agreement also have problems. The agreement suggested an electoral system which most politicians find important, but failed to suggest policies for a low-cost political system, democratizing political parties and transparency of political funds. These political reforms may show that politicians overlooked essential qualities of the political reform system.
Moreover, many politicians may likely want to revise the system, keeping in mind that a general election occurs the next year. In other words, the reform measures might tune out to be favorable for them. These situations may be the result of the obsolete thoughts of politicians who emphasize their own parties interests and tactics.
In the past, although Kim Young-sam was inaugurated after the collapse of the military government, most people could not help being disappointing to him. The current government started to take the helm of state affairs though a peaceful turn-over of political power 50 years after the establishment of the Republic of Korea. Why are Koreans dissatisfied with the current politics? The National Assembly still seems to be a servant of the presidential administration. Political parties often struggle while in parliament. Moreover, it is very often that politicians go to jail because of problem with their political funds and other corruption. Some politicians don't recognize their past faults and even try to restart their political careers. Chun Doo-hwan who was released from a prison last year after being convicted for treason acts as if he were an ex-president who didn't commit any crime.
Nowadays, people have extreme feelings of alienation and despondency from the current politics. Some people are worried about that a few anti-reform politicians might start to play an active part in Korean politics again because so many people are apathetic. The present government is trying to remove public distrust toward it by reforming politics and taking younger politicians into the government. However, the most important thing is that politicians lay down ground rules for political reform. Without drastic reform, our efforts to accomplish a sincere democracy will be in vain.