THE 17TH ELECTION OF THE National Assembly will be held on April 15th, 2004. At that time, the citizens watch group, Red Card 2004, will again engage in the brave and brilliant endeavor to list, and hopefully eliminate those candidates that are unqualified to serve. The Red Card did the same in 2000 election that was the first time that citizens show their power in an attempt to change the system that leads to the denigration of politics. And, like all power that arises at the grass roots level, it takes time and effort. It doesn't happen overnight.
   

	Citizens rose against the impeachment of president

In the past, from the 1960s to the 1980s, our citizens were suppressed by despotic governments. Life was hard. The people worked all day with insufficient time for eating and sleeping. However, even though they had no holidays and low monthly pay, they didn't protest to their employer. They were a working machine for their country because they felt it was their duty, but they don't feel they had any rights. However, citizens couldn't stand this situation any longer. Instead of governments reconstructing the nation and improving the economy, they only perpetuated irregularities and corruption. They even rigged the election of March 15th, 1960. Thereupon, the revolution of 4.19 was generated. Taking this opportunity, they continued the movement of democratization such as the 5.18 Demonstration, and the June Protest, etc. As a result of this activity for democracy, No Tae-woo won the 13th presidential election through an honest and fair election. 
   In the past, the use of citizen-power was mainly a cry for democratization. But now, the power of citizens is employed many fields such as environment, economy and politics. They assert their rights through peaceful demonstrations which use candles instead of violence. When the incident of the tank killing two girls took place in June 2002, citizens were indignant at this accident and demonstrated for an apology from the USA army. In the end, they succeeded in getting an apology from Bush. Recently, netizens have become a forceful and powerful group of citizens. A few days ago, Japan expressed some unreasonable statements about Dok-do(Japan insists that Dok-do belongs to Japan while it is clear that it is Korean territory). Netizens, upon hearing the news, started the internet 'Way 2004', which caused Japan's web-site to crash. In the same manner, netizens influence is worldwide. Now and in the future, they move quickly with mobile phones and the internet. In the end, they will be the principal axis of power of citizens.  
  

	Demonstrations show the power of citizens. In the past, citizens used fire-bottles but now, they light a  candle.

But, netizens as the representatives of citizens power have some problems. First, the participants are still few in numbers. Citizens have many opportunities to use their power due to the rapid development of the internet and its instantaneous means of communicating. However, the generation which uses the internet includes only the netizens(young people). Therefore, it doesn't reflect the public opinion of nation fully. Second, the problem is that most web sites are administered anonymously. Sometimes, because most web-site are anonymous, netizens tend to be irrational and extreme. So, they are impulsive because they don't judge reasonably. Lastly, occasionally, a creative, but small groups opinion is ignored by a larger group in the community, and sometimes, that larger groups opinion isn't right. Moreover, a large number are in a particular filed.
   Then, what is the solution to these problems? We must look at the field of netizens. Netizens for a specific boundary and their user-base is limited. Hence, we have to know that netizens are just a population, not a nation. That is to say, netizens opinions aren't the citizens opinions. Accordingly, the internet will always be a place which reflects a variety of opinions. 
   Starting in the 1970s, the economic growth of our country developed very rapidly, and we overcame the tragedy and devastation of the Korean war. This is the miracle of the Han River. The miracle was actualized by citizens. There is a slogan which states, 'the Power of Citizens Can Change the World.' The power of citizens is the effort that changes the mistakes and creates a better life. Namely, a citizen's movement in society can affect another citizen. This is the first step leading to the strong and effective power of citizens.

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   Are you familiar with the 'Vincent incident'? This incident began with one student writing  that the food of the restaurant is not good. It ended with media coverage and resulted in the offer of part time jobs to students.
   The Yeungnam University(YU)　free board is a part of the YU web-site and gives the opportunity to students to share information with each other. YU netizen exercise their power through the use of the free board which made for a good purpose. For example, last October, YU netizens pointed out a mistakes the Shin Kim Hye-jung writing called, 'Accusing Someone as a Bicycle Thief'. In the end, YU netizens received the written apology from her.
    But, YU netizens have problems. Some of the writing and answers are rude, rough and abusive. Additionally, some netizens post their writing, advertisements and their love story. Most of problems come from anonymity. Therefore, the free board added the report system for bad writing, but the situation remains unchanged.
   A few days ago, some of YU netizens attempted to make the free board better. than Naumenya said "the Free Board is the reflection of YU student, and it is the cyber YU campus. This is a place that I and almost all YU students use. So, we use the free board clearly." The YU free board has more activity than other universities. On the other hand, the YU free board has problems. In the future, we can correct the problems. We will show the YU netizens power through our neat free board.