Civil Action For General Elections 2000

Civil Action for General Elections 2000 Jin Youngjong 21 January 2000 On January 12 this year, 412 Korean domestic civil organizations launched a social c ampaign called the Civil Action for 2000 General Election (the CAGE) through officia l declaration at the Press Center in Seoul, South Korea. The declaration titled as Civi l Manifesto for Political Reform urges the year 2000 be commencing year of political reform in South Korea. It asserts that "politics in Korea still remains in the time of th e past century when the society and the people therein prepare their way into a ne w century as well as a new millennium. Political corruption in general is the worst o bstacle hindering the progress of reform in Korean society, that must no longer be t olerated. We, therefore, urgently demand a clean parliament." There will be a gener al election on April 13 this year, and it is very likely that some of corrupted incumbe nts will be re-appointed as candidate for their political parties. The majority of Kore an voters strongly rejects them as their representatives. These politicians used to b ehave as if the government is "of the representative, by the representative and for t he representative," forgetting their duty as servants of the people in a democratic s ociety. Thus, the CAGE is the product of the will of civil organizations to involve in t he upcoming general election for the purpose of banning corrupted incumbents fro m their re-entry into politics. Nevertheless, the Election Law in Korea prohibits any political campaign by civil organizations in concern of election. Even though it is ille gal, the civil organizations involved in the CAGE strongly believe that a political refo rm can be only brought by means of collective civil power for the time being. The C AGE thus also demands that the Election Law be amended to ensure the political rig ht of the people. Civil organizations are also responsible to take action against corru pted politics, because it is their duty to make a political reform progress. On January 24, the CAGE plans to release the list of politicians who are not qualified to run in th e upcoming election. The list is still in the process of being made with great care. T he criteria in sorting out politicians who are not eligible for election candidacy are; 1) people who have or are currently involved in corruption, 2) people who have viol ated or are violating the Election Law, 3) people who have involved in a military cou p or anti-human rights career, 4) people who are not diligently carrying out their pa rliamentary job and so on. In sum, the CAGE aims to: Eliminate corrupted politicians Amend the Election Law that denies the peoples' fundamental political rights Organi ze nation-wide campaigns against old, erroneous political habits and election custo ms Gather international support for the CAGE Strong Supports throughout the Coun try As soon as the CAGE was created, almost all citizens expressed their support for the CAGE activities. Many civil groups, which had not joined the CAGE in the beginni ng, started to participate in the campaign and currently the number of participating organizations has reached over 500 at the moment. Professional groups also began to join the CAGE. University professors expressed their support to the campaign and established the Policy Advisory Committee for the CAGE on January 19, and 500 law yers have been working on making the list. Every day the press and the media are covering detailed activities of the CAGE while paying a close look at the citizens' str ong interests. The young people in Korea who were indifferent to politics also came to be more and more interested in the April general election as a result of the CAGE activities. Most of them as netizen were informed of the CAGE through the Internet. The Financial Times reported on January 18 that "[t]he power of the Internet is maki ng itself felt ahead of South Korea's parliamentary elections in April, to the displeas

ure of the aging political establishment." It goes further by saying that "the rising in fluence of the civic groups comes during a period of public disillusionment about po litics after a year dominated by corruption scandals." The Korean politics is in the pr ocess of being reshaped by the CAGE with full public support. An Opinion Poll Shows Strong Public Support Before the CAGE was created, the preparatory committee con ducted an opinion poll to find out public attitude towards politics. The result showed that people are strongly disillusioned with politicians and long for a political campai gn against them organized by civil organizations. Only 9.5 % of the respondents sai d that they are satisfied with the political reforms by the parliament and the govern ment. 79.8% responded that they would support civil campaigns to eliminate corrup ted politicians, even if they are illegal. 81.1% answered that the list of unqualified p oliticians made by civil organizations would be helpful when they choose a candidat e in the election. 74.8% said civil organizations' campaigns for the April general elec tion would induce a political reform. If a candidate whom they support at the mome nt is included in the list, 62.8% of the respondents said that they would withdraw th eir support. And the poll showed that 60.8% of the members of the parliament shoul d be replaced by new, uncorrupted politicians. In response to a question that concer ns current activities of the incumbent politicians, 36.5% of the respondents checke d, in a scale of 0 to 100% to express satisfaction, in the category below 40%, 41.0% in 41-60%, 18.7% in 61-80%, and only 0.7% in 81-100%. As shown in the result of t he poll, the public explicitly showed their strong discontent with parliamentary activ ities, the current governmental political reforms, politicians, and politics in general. By contrast, they expressed enthusiasm to support the CAGE activities. And they al so believed that the CAGE could undertake the task of political reform at the mome nt. As the activities of the CAGE are widely spread to the public through the Internet and mass media, the public is more and more interested in the political reform and, as a result, the degree of their support is further being intensified. Urgent Announce ment !!! Support of your organizations to the CAGE will be of great help to bring a p olitical reform in South Korea. It also enhances, we believe, the international solidari ty for democracy. If you agree with the CAGE activities and are willing to cooperate, please do respond to us by sending the followings: a statement of support by your organization your experience of this kind of activities information about how civil or ganizations participate in the political election in your country. how the political ca mpaigns of civic groups in the election are regulated by law in your country. any ad vise and opinion concerning the CAGE activities. The above materials can be used f or press release to the Korean public if it is necessary to enhance the CAGE activitie s. l After the release of the list of unqualified politicians, a newsletter will be publish ed including the responses from the public and political parties. It also will cover the future plan of the CAGE in detail. The list released The Civil Action for 2000 General Election (CAGE) released the list of 67 politicians unqualified to stand in the coming general election in April. There was a press conference at Press Center in order to release the list and give a detail ed explanation of how the list was made. The press conference was lively covered b y major TV companies. It was the first time that the press conference of civil groups is lively covered by TV in Korea. The list included many influencing politicians both i n the ruling and the opposition parties. The former prime minister Kim Jong-pil, for mer speaker of the parliament, Kim Soo-han and Hwang Nak-joo were included in t he list. President supports the CAGE The Chosun Daily News reported the response of the present; "it could be understood as part of a movement from an indirect dem ocracy to a more direct democracy, and the politicians should learn to go with the c

urrent trend." The president Kim Dae-jung added that "in the short term, the move ments by civic activist groups are caused largely by the inability of politicians to ha ndle political issues." Great support from the public The citizens' response to the rel ease of the list could anticipate big bang in Korean politics. According to an opinion poll conducted by MBC (a major TV/radio company) and Korea Gallup, 73.3% of the respondent replied that they would withdraw their support of politicians in the list e ven though they had supported them before; 68.9% of the respondent replied that t he list was made with fairness, whereas the politicians included in the lists said that they doubted impartiality of the list. This shows that the majority of citizens extend ed their support to the activities of the CAGE. More civic groups are joining When th e CAGE was launched on the 12th of January, 412 civic organizations joined, howev er, the number of the joining organizations reached 476 when the list was released. Not only the citizens but civic groups in Korea extended their support to the CAGE e ven more strongly. This became a real challenge to the corrupted politics in Korea. I t is also anticipated that the citizens' dream of political reform is very likely to be co me true in reality in the near future. How the list was made! A Preparatory Committ ee A Preparatory Committee for the CAGE established "Investigation Team for Politic ians" on 22, December in 1999. The team was composed of 12 activists from variou s civil organizations and 10 volunteers. They collected all the available factual mate rial of politicians to be examined in more minute evaluation in the CAGE. They colle cted the material for one month, focusing on 329 members of the parliament. The material includes all the reports by the parliament, their property reports, reports b y mass media, juridical reports and reports by all the civic groups. And 171 member s also sent their own explanatory reports to the committee, which also was taken in to consideration. The criteria After collecting all the available material, the CAGE ma de criteria for the list, which was primarily based on the result of an opinion poll con ducted on the 9th of January. The criteria were announced on the 12th of January w hen the CAGE was launched: corruption, violation of election law, anti-human rights career, parliamentary activities and personal material including tax payment, army service in case of male etc. The Executive Committee of the CAGE narrowed the nu mber to 95 members to be critically examined on the 15th of January. 100 Voters C ommittee 100 Voters Committee was specially created to represent ordinary citizen s' opinion. The members of the Committee were selected throughout the country fol lowing a poll by Korea Gallup to act as jury for the list. They were composed of 51 male and 49 female members; 27 in their 20s, 28 in 30s, 19 in 40s and 26 over 50 s; 11 in agriculture, 12 self employed, 17 from factory workers, 14 from office worke rs, 5 of university students, 33 housewives and the rest. Regionally 25 came from S eoul, 25 from Inchon and Kyungki-do, 16 from Pusan and Kyungnam, 11 from Taeku and Kyungbuk, 11 from Honam, 8 from Chungchong and 1 from Cheju-do following the ratio of population of region. The Representative Board They screened the list of 95 members made by the Executive Committee and handed it in to the Representat ive Board. The Board selected 77 among 95 on the 18th of January. The list of 77 w as screened again by the Policy Advisory Committee on the 19th and self-explanato ry reports by politicians were taken into account at this stage. On the 22nd, the list was scrutinized by 100 Voters Committee again and then by Lawyers' Advisory Tea m. And finally, the list was made on the 23rd and released on the 24th of January at the press conference. In order to avoid a dispute of fairness in the process of makin g the list, the CAGE did its best as explained above. This thoughtful procedure was welcome by the citizens, and the list was accepted with trust by almost all the citize ns but some politicians included in the list. Next Step Forward Even though the list r

eleased by the CAGE is supported by almost all the citizens, the political parties in K orea seems very reluctant to accept the list as an urgent reality. One of the ruling c oalition, Liberal Democratic Federation, even insists without ground that the activiti es of the CAGE is manipulated by the government. And some politicians included in the list reacted against the CAGE. However, their preposterous reactions never gain public sympathy. The second release of the list In the meantime, the CAGE planned next steps forward in order to achieve political reform. First, the second list is going to be released in the very near future. The first list released on the 24th was made f rom the present members of the parliament only. There are many politicians who w ere not screened in the first list, but are very likely to stand in the coming general e lection. This time the emphasis is put on the politicians who were not taken into con sideration in the first lists. There have been thousands of phone calls from citizens asking why such and such politicians were not included in the list. But this time, the list is made evaluating politicians who are not members of the parliament at the mo ment. A nation wide mass rally There will be a mass rally to support the CAGE and t o drive its activity forward to rule out the politicians in the list by the civil power at 1 p.m. on the 30th. The 30th of January is named the Recovery Day of People's Righ t. The rally is going to be held in six major cities throughout the country at the sam e time. In this rally, yellow cards will be given to the politicians in the list like in foot ball match. They do not give up candidates for a member of the parliament even af ter booked by the CAGE, red card will be given and they will be sent off the ground of politics by citizens' direct action. Announcement The activities of the CAGE are g oing forward with great support from the public. However, there are few responses f rom civic groups abroad since the newsletter 1 was released up to now. If you are i nterested in the activities of the CAGE in Korea, and you really want to support its c ampaign to rule out corrupted politicians, could you send us a statement of support under the name of your organizations please? Otherwise, if you have any experienc e of the same kind of campaign, could you send us some detailed information about it? Your response of any kind will encourage the CAGE and the citizens' will toward p olitical reform in Korea. We are looking forward to your immediate reply. Thank you very much. Representative and Director of Executive Committee Summoned! One of the repres entatives of the CAGE, Mr. Choi Yul and Director of Executive Committee, Mr. Park W on-soon were summoned to the Public Prosecutor"s Office on the 17th of February. The Office announced that they are summoned because they violated the Election L aw by organizing mass rallies and illegal political campaigns. This incident explicitly illustrates that the authorities are going to oppress the activities of the CAGE in the near future. Many regional branches of the CAGE were also prosecuted by the Electi on Office for 'violating' the Election Law. Some members will appear in the Public Pr osecutor"s Office. The authorities announced that civil activists would be summone d and inquired how and why they organized so called 'illegal' political campaigns su ch as mass rallies and signature seeking campaigns. They added that punishment would be unavoidable if their activities were proved to be illegal. However, the sum mon cannot stop the CAGE"s accelerated activities strongly supported by the peopl e at all. The CAGE announced that it would do its best to keep the law, however, it would not avoid confronting authorities, if it is necessary for political reform. Even a fter the summon, the people"s support never decreases. International Support Oppo sing the Summon Urgently Required! We are urgently asking for international suppo rt to the CAGE. In particular, a statement of support under the name of your organiz

ation or representing body of your organization is urgently required since some me mbers were summoned. We would like to have a press conference with the stateme nt from international civic groups as soon as possible. The press conference demon strates that the CAGE"s activities for political reform in the general elections are int ernationally supported. In addition, international support will warn the Korean autho rities that they would be responsible for any result of punishing the members of the CAGE, and of suppression of the activities of the CAGE. Please make a supporting st atement and immediately email it to the CAGE! Your support would be greatly appre ciated by the Korean people and helpful for the continuing activities of the CAGE! U ndesirable Amendment of Election Law The CAGE has strongly demanded that the E lection Law, which prohibits civic groups election campaign, should be changed. Ho wever, the amended Election Law does not represent the people"s wish at all. By co ntrast, it prohibits their activities for political reform in the general elections dextero usly, even though it seems to allow civic groups" election campaign in appearance. The law prohibits almost all the important forms of political campaign. For instance, a mass rally and a signature seeking campaign are illegal according to the law. Eve n the release of result of opinion poll by civic groups is banned. Election campaign t hrough telephone and email is allowed. The spokesman of the CAGE commented on the amendment, 'although the amendment is not desirable at all, we do our best to abide by the law. However, this does not mean that the CAGE will abide uncondition ally by the law because the amendment restricts civic groups activities too much.' T his implies that the civil disobedience towards political reform is available yet. But t he CAGE is trying to avoid the unnecessary confrontation with authorities. Successf ul Mass Rally throughout the Country On the 30th of January, there were mass rallie s throughout the country in coldness of the winter. In the rallies, yellow cards were distributed to the participating citizens, and the names of the listed politicians were called on the platform, the participants cheerfully responded waving the cards. One participant said in confidence, 'I am willing to give the listed politicians this card, if t hey are nominated as candidate by the parties. This time they must recognize the c ivil power and they cannot ignore people"s strong wish for political reform this tim e'. In the coldness of this winter, the rally in Seoul started with around 1,000 citizen s, however, more and more citizens joined the rally after the commencement of the rally. It was held in the Square in front of Seoul Rail Station, and the participant mar ched to Myungdong Cathedral. When they arrived at the cathedral, the number rea ched about 3,000. This shows us that the CAGE is strongly supported by citizens, an d their will to participate in the CAGE"s activities is very strong. One policeman at t he rally said frankly, 'I strongly support the CAGE from the bottom of my heart, but my job, as you know, is to watch the participants and guide them to the cathedral. However, please keep this in mind that I and my colleague are with you.' Then the p articipants responded to the policeman very cheerfully. The general atmosphere at the rallies in other cities was almost the same as this. The CAGE is going to have m ass rallies throughout the country regularly. Every Wednesday, there are street cam paigns to rule out corrupted politicians during lunch time in major cities. The street campaign on the 16th was very successful. The citizens encouraged civic campaign and promised to participate in voting in order to rule out the listed politicians on the 13th of April. On the 19th a big mass rally will be held in major cities at the same ti me to banish the listed politicians and recover the people"s rights. Since the CAGE was created, the activities have been strongly supported by citizen s. Some visit the office in order to encourage the staffs in person working there, an

d others participated in street campaigns, mass rallies and a signature seeking cam paign. Furthermore, some artists donated their works to the CAGE. Ordinary Citizen s" Donation Makes the CAGE Continue! A lot of ordinary citizens donated money in s upport of the activities of the CAGE. Up to the 7th of March, the total sum of the do nated money is over 210 thousands U.S. dollars. It made a record in the history of K orean civil movements. Some citizens brought money to the office, others put it to t he bank account of the CAGE, and others donated through the internet. The leading member had staged a sit-down demonstration at Myungdong Cathedral from 2 to 6 of March. A lot of citizens visited the cathedral to encourage the working staffs of th e CAGE. Citizens of various jobs showed their strong concern visiting the staffs; me dical doctors, university professors, priests, lawyers, businessmen, actors and actre ss, artists and so one. Some donated money while visiting the cathedral, other brou ght food for the sit-down strikers. During this demonstration, 6 million won (around 6 thousands U.S. dollars) was collected excluding food. Even there was a case that one citizen, refusing to give his name, donated a piece of gold for the CAGE. An Exh ibition to fundraise The Exhibition to fundraise for the activities of the CAGE was hel d from 3 to 14 of March in a Philosophy Cafe, Nutinamu, jointly run by the People"s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and the Federation of Environment Movemen ts. A number of painting and calligraphy were donated in support of political reform campaign organized by the CAGE. The number of donating artists reached 28. More than 10 thousands U.S. dollars were raised from this exhibition. A Signature Seeking Campaign To sign in the signature seeking campaign book is one of the easiest way for citizens to extend their support to the CAGE. However, it can have a strong effec t on the political parties, if a large number of citizens participated in it. It is estimat ed that the campaign has been successfully going on. A nation-wide signature seek ing Campaign is going on by the CAGE. Around 50 thousands signed the campaign book in Seoul area only up to the 7th of March. And the campaign will be going on, and the number is increasing throughout the country. Classes for Democracy Throu ghout the Country The second week of March was announced to be "the week of ed ucation for political reform by the CAGE". In order to achieve political reform, the ed ucation of voters is particularly stressed at this stage of the CAGE"s activities. Thus, the advisory committee of professors decided to have a special lecture or class for i t at universities throughout the country. For instance, a big lecture was given at Su ngkonghoe University in Seoul on the 15th. Professors of Mass Communications, Poli tics and Sociology had a lecture together at a big auditorium, where the significanc e of the CAGE movement was professed and it was followed by a debate between s tudents and professors. It was not only in universities, but in primary and secondary schools where this special classes were given. Korean Teachers and Educational Wor kers Union had special "Democracy Classes" in all the schools in Korea in the secon d week of March, which attracted a nation wide attention. Even though school boys and girls do not have a voting right in the coming general elections, they will play a great role in political reform if they realize importance of political reform through el ections in the future. This is the reason why the Union decided to have a special cla sses in all the schools in Korea. This special class program was welcome by the CAG E and citizens who are yearning for political reform. And it is strongly expected that the young school boys and girls realize the reality of corrupted politics at the mome nt, and it would be reformed by the hands of electors. A Nation-Wide Bus Tour Cam paign The CAGE is going to have a bus tour campaign throughout the country in ord er to spread the importance of political reform by the hands of electors, and organiz e electors. The tour starts on the 13th of March in Seoul. First the tour team will visi

t the southern provinces and then central parts and then the northern part of the co untry. It will have a mass rally wherever it visits in order to contact electors directly. On the 16th of March there is going to be a nation wide mass rally at a square in fro nt of Taejon Rail Station, it is geographically located in the center of the country, so all the citizens could easily participate in the rally. The bus tour contacting electors directly would be the most powerful means that the CAGE can take because it will h ave a great influence on them in the general elections in April. Thus, it is expected t hat there will be a confrontation between authorities and the CAGE concerning the bus tour. The CAGE Reject the Listed to Register as Candidate The CAGE started its activities releasing the list of corrupted politician and strongly demanded that politi cal parties should not nominate them as candidate. The list is strongly supported by voters and around 90% of citizens agreed that the listed were not eligible to run for the offices. However, the parties nominated some of them as candidate. Out of 227 offices, the Democratic Party of New Millenium which is in power at the moment no minated 11, the Party of Grand Nation, a major opposition party 21 and the Liberal Democrats 13. At first the CAGE strongly demanded that the parties should cancel t he nomination of the listed but they refused. According to the Law of Political Partie s, candidates should be nominated through a democratic process provided by party regulations. Almost all the candidates, however, were appointed by the boss of the parties, or working machines of the bosses. This is the reason why they nominated t he listed as candidate. This undemocratic process of nomination is strongly rejected by the general sentiments of voters. Therefore the CAGE sued the parties to withdr aw the nomination of the listed in particular in order to stop the listed registering as candidate. It is the first time in the Korean history that the nomination of candidate s for MP"s comes to be debated in court. The CAGE organized a plaintiff group for th e lawsuit. The group includes university professors, lawyers, activists, ordinary citize ns and members of the parties as well. Not only the CAGE but electors keep their ey es on the response from the court. A Million Young Voters" Action Established As the politics in Korea became more and more corrupted, the young came to be disinteres ted in politics including elections. However, as a result of the CAGE"s activities, the young come to be more and more interested in political reform participating in the general elections. Especially the 20"s in Korea either university students or working person in every field of the society. There also are yearning for political reform of th e country, so the activities of the CAGE awakened their consciousness of democrac y to participate in the general election. It should be estimated one good result of th e activities organized by the CAGE. Furthermore, the young people announced to or ganize "A Million Young Voters" Action" responding to the CAGE. On the 7th of Marc h, A Million Young Voters" Action was established in Seoul, declaring that 'political re form in the country should be achieved by the hands of young voters.' 'We are not b y-standers watching the electoral process disinterestedly any more, but must be a strong driving force for political reform. Therefore, now we declare that we are supp orting the CAGE and joining all the political reform campaigns actively.' The leading members of the Action are university students and young activists in various civil gr oups. They openly emphasized that the role of young voters should be maximized f or political reform in the coming general elections. Their activities in the coming ge neral elections would influence electors in general. They started organizing from gr ass root to collect voters" will to democracy. Summoning of the CAGE staffs continu es! After the leading members, including representatives and head of Executive Co mmittee already published in the newsletter, other staffs of the CAGE are summone d by the Public Prosecutors Office. Therefore, supports not only within the country b

ut also from abroad are urgently required. Even though the CAGE has asked the sup ports from NGO"s from other countries, a few organizations sent us a statement of s trong support. Once more we are asking your organizations to send us a statement of supporting the CAGE through email or fax. We are looking forward to receiving th e statement as soon as possible. Thank you very much. The general election in Korea has proved a great victory for the civil activities organ ized by the CAGE. On the 3rd of March, the CAGE released the last list of politicians to be sent off in the election. The list of 86 candidates included very influential polit icians both in the majority and oppositional parties. However, the civil power made their influence in Korean politics powerless. Even though the turnout in this general election was the lowest recorded, which means that a lot of the young voters very s upportive to the CAGEs activities did not turn out, the result of the election proved t o be very successful. Even the staff of the CAGE did not expect such a great succes s. 59 candidates out of 86 in the list failed to take office. On average, 68.6 percent of the listed candidates was kicked out by the CAGE in this election. However, it mi ght well be explained more specifically. There are two regions in Korea where the re gional sentiments in political behavior are too strong: the south-east and the south -west. Therefore, the result of the general election should be explained by region; t he Seoul area, the central area, and the two southern regions. In the Seoul area, wh ere the voters are free from any regional sentiments, 19 out of the 20 listed candid ates failed to be elected, a 95.5 per cent success for the CAGE. In the central regio n, 18 among the 23 listed politicians failed. In the south-east region, however, only 16 out of 35 failed to be elected, while 6 out of 8 failed in the south-west. This clea rly illuminates that the general voters who are free from regional sentiments in polit ical behavior agreed with the political reform program presented by the CAGE throu gh the elections. They voted in favor of the campaigns organized by the CAGE. It is unanimously estimated that this is a new beginning for political reform, achieved by the civil groups" power in Korea. Not a few political commentators in this country ag ree that civil power has come to be more influential both on the general citizens an d on the political parties because of the activities of the CAGE during the last three and half months. Announcement of Gratitude ( The CAGE released a statement of g ratitude to the general public just after the result of the general election became kn own on the 14th of April. Below is a summary of the statement) Concluding the Lon g March of Political Reform with the Electorate First of all, we would like to express o ur gratitude for your consistent support to the CAGE"s activities, which resulted in t he great success of civil power in the general elections. We are very happy that we can conclude the whole program with a great success because of your support. Ho wever, it should also be pointed out that we, the CAGE and the electorate, failed to overcome the regional sentiments in politics which have been an obstacle to politic al reform in this country. We failed to lift off this barrier this time again, even thoug h we strongly appealed to the electorate not to be influenced by regional sentiment s, for the sake of the development of democracy. We succeeded to a great extent, h owever, in getting rid of corrupt politicians in most regions. This triumphant result is due to the strong will for political reform of the general public. We would like to inte rpret this success to mean that from now on the general public in this country will r efuse to take a passive role in politics, and have decided to play a more active role, intervening in corrupt politics from now on. At last we have recovered the political ri ghts of civilians which had been taken away for some decades. Frankly speaking, m any hard and painstaking tasks were required to set up the CAGE and to organize al l possible means of activism. We are well aware that the campaigns of the CAGE is a civil judgement on corrupt politics and politicians, but it was difficult for us to mak

e the list of individual politicians. We can say with confidence that we never made t he list from personal prejudices or sentiments against the listed politicians. This, we think, was proved by the result of the election. We would like to express our sorrow for the young voters. The turnout in this election was the lowest in the political hist ory of Korea. In particular, the young voters turnout was much lower than average. We strongly ask our young citizens to be interested in the democratic reform of poli tics, and to be involved in the activities for the political development of this countr y. We ask you to bear in mind that the future of democracy in Korea depends totally on you, not on other generations. Please reject political cynicism, and join the partic ipatory forum for political reform! We did our best to make proper criteria for selecti ng politicians on the list. These include corruption, an anti-human rights career, pro motion of regional sentiments, parliamentary activities, and so on. All of these were accepted as being very reasonable by the general public. However some politicians refused to accept them. The result of the general election clearly showed that we w ere right, and they were wrong. We would like to ask those who were elected to repr esent the peoples opinion by pursuing political reform in the parliament. The succes s of the CAGE was possible not only by the public support but also by the participati on of around 800 civic groups. Civil organizations have experimented with solidarity through the CAGE during this election. We are sure that these experiences will be a solid base for social reform in Korea in the future. A new horizon for the period of po litical reform has just been opened up by the CAGE. Without political reform, what ki nd of reform would be possible in our society? We would like to express our gratitud e to the electorate for their strong support from the bottom of our hearts.