LAST MONTH, a professor of Dept. of French Lang. & Lit.  talked about Pres. Roh's plastic surgery in his class. According to a student in his class, the professor talked cynically about Pres. Roh saying he does not govern the country but concentrates on his appearance. He even stated Pres. Roh gets addicted to botox. Of course, most participants laughed at his deplorable jokes.

  Although about two months passed, it seems the public are still interested in the eyebrows of the President and First Lady. Mass media also reported the surgery as the most important thing in today's politics in Korea. Surgeons are getting much money and drinkers found something new to talk about.

  Although Cheong Wa Dae (office of the President, Republic of Korea) stated the reason why President had to undergo the surgery, it does not matter for people who want to ridicule the President and Korean politics. Just the fact he underwent plastic surgery undermined his reputation and integrity as a President.

  A similar state is also found at "X-File" event, which happened several months ago. Strangely, some public criticized entertainers' private lives, but did not criticize leaking information. The matter showed the seriousness of leaking information and violating people's privacy. However, social argument flowed whether the entertainers are public figures or not, whether the content is true or not.

  Two events show how many people, who is so called ?ublic figure,?are treated unfairly. I want to ask the professor. If a university student undergoes plastic surgery, it means he or she does not study at all? If you talk with Japanese about the relationship between Korea and Japan, are you pro-Japanese? We should begin to suspect the integrity of a person who is maling judgement on other person? integrity in a single incident.

  These days, in our society, public and private life seemed to be confused. Hoping to respect one's private life, it seems people still have a 1970's point of view about what is called "public figure." Also, if the President's surgery had a bad influence on society and made our society "addicted to plastic surgery," people who cannot sort out official and private areas should take more responsibility. Under the name of public figure, we demand from them too many things, even one's private preference about small things.

  Being ashamed of our political situation, we often envy foreigners who have many admirers, especially politicians in their present age. However, if we had a strict standard to evaluate politicians, maybe we would be more proud of our society than today. Although I severely hate plastic surgery, I give the President's dignified attitude a clap.