Roh Says `No to New Party, But Yes to Alliance with ULD`

Presidential hopeful of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) Roh Moon-Hyun said on May 14, `If I assume the presidency, I will definitely rein in the prerogative consciousness and foul play culture of the power elites, and I will clean out the dark power culture so that the law enforcement agencies do their job without any need to cater to the interest of the president.`

Candidate Roh attended as a guest in a discussion meeting of Kwanhun Club, which is a gathering of senior journalists, and said in an introductory address, `If I assume the presidency, I will not let anybody, without exception, escape the lawful punishment when they commit corruption and irregularities, whatever background they may have including families, relatives, aids of the president and high officials. `

To a question whether he would agree on the judgment that the alleged scandals concerning three sons of President Kim Dae-Jung are committed at the power core level and President Kim should be ultimately responsible for that, he answered, `I generally agree with the decisions of the public opinion and the people.`

Candidate Roh also expressed his opposition to the revision of the party name or the creation of a new party, which were raised by some party members recently, saying, `For the mere reason of falling popular support, changing the party name and doing a new make-up is like performing a surprise show, and it would not solve the problems.`

He made clear, `I oppose to the merge with the United Liberal Democrats (ULD),` even though he said, `An alliance within the limit of not losing the central focus of the democratic movement does not matter` with the respective of the alliance or the merge with the ULD.

However, in relation to the issue of cooperating with former president Kim Young-Sam, he said, `I will try to receive his support again in the future.`

Candidate Roh made a little twist of meaning what he said so far with the respective of the abolition of the National Security Act, saying, `I have been talking about the abolition, but the expression is somewhat incorrect and, and the Act should be alternatively legislated or absorbed into criminal laws.` He declared, concerning the issues of recognizing the government employees` labor union and assignment of collective bargaining rights to it, `As the labor unions are the general rights of workers, the government employees too should have the right, but the collective bargaining power should be reserved.`

He further talked about the ownership limitation of the press, `To determine whether the limit on the ownership of the press is unconstitutional or not, an absolute a priori standard does not exist, and if it is necessary for educational and public interest regarding the press, some public limitation can be applied.`

In relation to a content of his past lectures, in which he remarked that capitalistic factionalists led South Korea, he said, `I do not remember the exact expression, but as it is true that the Republic of Korea was an only legitimate regime, it had characteristics of factional orientation.`

In addition, he remarked, `I personally favor them,` referring to the introduction of autonomous private high school and contributory entrance permits.

Jeong-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com