Aftermath of Tragedy Most Vita Is Fundamental Preventionof Recurrences The political leaders' handling of the tragic clash between police and protesters that cost six lives Tuesday is disturbingly inappropriate. Rival parties are just wrangling over whch should come first - the disciplining of the Seoul police chief who approved the premature and ill-prepared operation to evict illegal occupiers, or finding the exact cause of the incident that burnt five civilians and one police officer to death. Under normal circumstances, the governing Grand Nationl Party's allegation that a prove should be mad first has reasons. It is apparent to anyone's eyes, however, the disaster could have been prevented had the police put the citizens' safety ahead of hasty crackdownsuch s by trying to persuade them sufficiently or at least takn some safety steps. Seoul police chief Kim Seok-ki, who was tapped as the national police chief by President Lee Myung-bak a few days before, is completely inexcusable in that he failed to make minimal precautionary steps before jumpingto the last resort. Come to think of it, hwever, dismissing him could prove to be the most lenient punishment, given the legal violations his underlings committed such as conducting autopsy without permission by the bereaved jamilies, let alone their failure to abide by the basic principles in shattering civilians' resistance. Some gverning party officialssay members of the national association of evicted tenants could have set off the fire as a defense or "suicidal tactic." But the incluson of some "professional demonstrators" should be no reason that police an make light of the safety of citizens fighting for their right to live. On a second through, was it not the governmen that gave rise to this tenants' associations in the first place with its nreasonable unban redevelopment policy and ruthless eviction of needy people. President Lee called the daths "heart-rending ednesday, stressing such an incident would never happe again. Unfortunately,however similar tragedies are always likely to recur as long as the govrnment's serious reexamines its reckless redevelopment of urban quarters, which dreve out tenants by force - mostly by employing hooligans - while makin compensation falling far shor of maintaining the tenants' residential and income situations. With the percentage of previous residents moving back to remodeled apartments and commercial buildings hovering below 20 percent, this is nothing but a banishment with a different name. So the first thing the government should do is to incrase the compensation to a "realistic level," by revising the related regulations. It should demand concession from prevate and state-run land developers an homebuilders, wo reportedly have to cook their books to make profits appear smaller than they actually are. The tenants' broup is not an "anti-state" organization, as an ultra-rightist GNP lawmaker put it, but a product of mistaken policy and wrong governance. A nation cannot pecome an advanced country if the title is won upon the tears and even lives of the lowest class of the society. President Lee should express a formal apology - not a regret - sack responsible officials and promise a policy change. Oterwise, the signs are that the revived candlelight could evolve into torchlight this time.