PSPD in English Archive 2003-11-08   2468

Editor’s Note

The ghost of war hovers over the world; the war-driven policies of Bush administration of the U. S. have threatened world peace and civil rights of world citizens are restricted to some degree. The retaliation war on Afghanistan under the name of anti-war came to be forgotten and the victims of the war have lost the attention of world media. But the restricted civilian right is not restored yet. However, the U. S. government is planning another war against Iraq also under the name of anti-war. In the meantime the people”s demand for peace have been spread to every corner of the world; we have witnessed peace and anti-war campaigns by the people from Europe to Asia, from Scandinavia to Australia and even in the territory of the U. S. The number of the participants in the campaigns are rapidly increasing. The people hope and demand is facing peace threatening policies of the U. S. government.

In Korea, there is the 16th presidential election in December 2002. The democratization movement achieved the election of president by people”s hand in the 1980s. And the Korean people are going to elect a new president in December. Since the Democratization Movement of June in 1987, Korea has changed a lot; the military regime was replaced by the civilian one and the power was handed over to the opposition party. However, there is a long way to go for social and political reform. The civilian groups intervened in the general election in 2000 strongly supported by the general public (See ASQ 1). The civil organizations in Korea are also planning to intervene in the presidential election, which is crucial for social and political reform.

This issue of ASQ, first of all, highlights the presidential election. Dr. Son Hyukjae explains what has been done by the civic groups in electing party candidates and what is going to be done in the presidential election. Dr. Hong Sungtae deals with quite a new social and political phenomenon the Korean people witnessed and created during the election of a party candidate. It is a very new social and political phenomenon because major parties adopted a limited open primary in candidate election. However the citizen’s participation in the primary was unexpectedly great even though it was quite limited. It shows the will and demand of people for political reform is too strong. The role of civil movement in the whole process of the presidential campaign is beautifully illustrated in Lee Taeho”s article, who is a director of policy making department at the People”s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy. Lee Kwangho gives us another more specified aspect of the presidential election from the viewpoint of progressive political movement. The Democratic Labor Party was formed by trade unions, labor activists and intellectuals. The candidate of Democratic Labor Party is running in the presidential election with distinguishably progressive social reform plans. Lee Kwangho gives us an insight on the progressive political party movement in Korea as well as the significance of the presidential election in December from the viewpoint of the progressive political party.

Not only presidential elections but general elections come to be more important to social and political reform in Asian countries, in particular. In order to develop civilian programs in the elections exchanging each country”s experience the PSPD and ANFREL organized an international workshop on democracy and elections in Asia sponsored by the Fridriech Ebert Foundation and the Korean NGO Weekly Citizen Times in September. NGO activists from Thailand, the Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Japan and Korea were invited to the workshop and many activists from civil organizations participated. The workshop proved to be very instructive among activists from various Asian countries. Park Yeara gives us a detailed report on the workshop under the title of ‘International Workshop on Building Democracy and Good Governance through Elections in Asia’.

Peace and anti-war campaigns have been widely organized by civil organizations, trades unions and students in Korea, as dealt with in the previous issues. However, two schoolgirls were brutally killed by the U. S. Army in Korea in June 2002. M. Naoko scrutinizes the case of the death of two girls in ‘Solidarity in South Korean Civil Movement against U. S. Force: the Case of the Death of the Two School Girls in June.’ Dr. Suh Jaejung, who teaches at Cornell University in the United States, examines the peace in Far Eastern Asia focusing in Korea in ‘To Rollback or to Engage – Dangers and Hopes on the Korean Peninsular’. It should be noted, however, that his article was written before the news of North Korean nuclear weapon development plan was announced by the U. S. government.

Park Yoonsu reports a particular activity organized by the PSPD, that is, how to protect youngsters rights. A lot of youngsters do part-time work in Korea. However, they are economically exploited without social and legal protection. Even worse some of them suffer sexual harassment. Park Yoonsu explains the reality of younsters part time job and the PSPD”s campaign for them in ‘Go Alba! Youngsters and their Rights.’ Other NGO activities are reported in ‘Does WSSD Stand for the World Summit on Shameful Deals?’ by Lee Yujin of Green Korea United. And the people”s forum in the Fourth ASEM in Denmark is also illustrated in this issue.

We publish the 10th issue. But still long way to go particularly in the sense that the reader”s comments and responses are rarely reach the Editorial Board. But the board is still waiting for your response and critical comments!!!

Thank you very much.

Jin Youngjong (Editor in Chief, ASQ/ Professor of English, Sungkonghoe University)

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