By Choi Yearn-hong

Korean politics are not getting better. As a matter of fact, they are getting worse. One reason for this is the strict party line ― the party control of its members in and outside the National Assembly. No one is allowed to deviate ― severe punishment is meted out for deviations from the party line.

I read newspaper articles reporting that the opposition parties made a decision to reject Chung Un-chan the nominee for prime minister in the Assembly. All of their members voted against his nomination.

Chung was a former president of Seoul National University who was considered as the presidential candidate of the main opposition party a couple of years ago. He did not get even one vote from the opposition party ― a result of the pathetic, ridiculous totalitarian party line.

The party line can control the Assembly vote, but such a totalitarian system is not desirable. Politics should not be that rigid ― they are supposed to be fun. I would not like to join such a rigid party. A certain freedom should be guaranteed for politicians to express their political views which differ from those of party.

In Korea, there is no such thing as an analysis of voting behavior as in the U.S. congressional politics, because of strict control in the National Assembly. To a Korean political scientist, it was interesting to find that congressional acceptance of President John Kennedy's policy proposals was miserably low, less than 50 percent.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton's North America Free Trade Act was rejected by his own Democratic senators, but accepted by the Republican senators 100 percent. The party line exists in the U.S. Congress, but there is always a degree of deviation. That makes American politics fun to watch.

President Barack Obama has more than several friends in the Republican Party. Senior Republican Sen. Richard Lugar from Indiana is a decent conservative politician well respected by many Hoosiers.

The Lugar-Obama friendship has been shown to cross party lines ― this is nicely noticeable. I came to know that Republican congressman, Jim Leach, accepted the new chairman's position at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) offered by President Obama.

Likewise, Republican presidential candidate John McCain received the endorsement from Democratic senator and once vice presidential candidate Joe Liberman from Connecticut. I have seen many U.S. presidents appoint members of the opposition party to their Cabinets throughout American history.

This kind of crossing the party line is making politics soft and gentle, and even desirable. The party line cannot and should not control all aspects of life ― life is more complex than that.

Leach was a Republican member of Congress for 30 years, one with a distinct voting record: He was against authorizing military force in Iraq; and against New Gingrich when the disgraceful Georgian ran for the speaker of the House. He held hearings on the Whitewater land development project and questioned the roles of Bill and Hillary Clinton on that deal. He voted to impeach President Clinton.

Last year, Leach backed Obama, his first-ever endorsement of a Democrat, and told the country why in a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

The Korean National Assembly needs a Jim Leach-like man or woman.

Leach was not crucified and will not be so by the Republican Party. He is most qualified to lead the NEH, where his job is to bridge cultures. He is a man who can build a bridge between American and Asian and African cultures, the East and the West.

The Iraq and Afghanistan wars are based on culture. So Obama and Leach can agree on one thing: the humility of American diplomacy and the understanding of other cultures.

In his high-ceilinged office, I saw portraits of Confucius, John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, Giuseppe Verdi, Albert Einstein, Chief Black Hawk, Madame Curie, Charles Darwin, Martin Luther King Jr. and Leo Tolstoy. The NEH is a federal organization nurturing American intellectuals, broadening the intellectual horizon of the nation.

The party line may be necessary in the efficient and productive operation of the National Assembly. But it should not make the Assembly a battle field of two ferocious parties. It should be just a guideline to its members ― politics is not a killing field. All politicians must seek the national interest ― promoting the general welfare of the Korean people.

All partisan politics is and must be dictated by the national interest ― the different means must achieve the same lofty goal between and among the political parties.

I believe in the third way in party politics ― the so-called gray area. This will offer the Assembly a buffer zone ― peace, reconciliation and negotiation. It could make Korean politics decent, vital and beautiful.

Cross the party line! You are courageous! You are not a traitor, if crossing the party line has the public or national interest at its fore. The party line here exists above these noble goals.

Dr. Choi is a humanist and political scientist, retired from a long teaching career in the United States and Korea. He can be reached at yearnhc@hanmail.net.