By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Conservative civic groups cheered Thursday Lee Myung-bak's landslide victory in the presidential election, but progressives expressed disappointment.
Conservatives welcoming Lee's win called for rational and efficient moves to inject fresh vigor into the economic, social, cultural and political sectors. They called for a market-friendly environment, a joint security system with other countries and autonomy in public education to make up for the ``lost 10 years'' under the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations.
The New Right, Citizens United for a Better Society and others said now Lee needs to shrink government control of the market and rearrange real estate policies.
On the other hand, a progressive civic groups association held a press conference Thursday, calling for a special prosecutor's probe into the BBK stock price manipulation scandal allegedly involving President-elect Lee. They also requested Lee to maintain peaceful relations between South and North Korea as the Roh administration had.
The Korea Alliance of Progressive Movements, the Korean Women's Association United and a joint committee representing 750 civic groups said at Hyanglin Church in downtown Seoul that Lee should take full responsibility for the BBK allegations even though he was elected as the next president.
The statement came after the Grand National Party head Kang Jae-sup asked President Roh Moo-hyun to veto the independent counsel's investigation into the stock manipulation case, which Lee already announced that he would accept.
The groups are planning to hold campaigns for a thorough investigation of the scandal starting from January.
Some experts said that these civic groups may see a backlash from the new government to be formed next February, as they held fierce ``anti-Lee"' campaigns during the election.
As these conservative and progressive groups are expected to clash over many of Lee's policies such as giving autonomy to universities in student selection, the conflict between the two may get worse, experts predicted. If the independent counsel clears Lee of all suspicions, the civic groups may lose their reputation as representatives of the people in the worst-case scenario, they said.
``These groups have been raising their voices since the Kim Dae-jung government (1998-2003) and blossomed in Roh's time (2003-2008). However, their actions went a bit too far and many people, often questioned the effectiveness of having these groups around,'' Prof. Chae Baek of Pusan National University said.