Not to Give Party Ticket to Kim Hyun-chul for By-Election

The opposition Grand National Party will not offer a party ticket to Kim Hyun-chul, the second son of former president Kim Young-sam, in the coming parliamentary by-election in August.

“GNP leaders already decided not to give him our party ticket for the by-election,”’ the GNP official said. "The consensus has already been made that it will be difficult to nominate him as the GNP candidate."

He added, "An overwhelming number of people in the party oppose his candidacy since public opinion of him is very negative. Rumor has it that the GNP will not nominate its own candidate for the Masan district in South Kyongsang Province, where the junior Kim is expected to run for the by-election, but that is groundless."

The GNP secretariat collected the telephone survey and reported to the party leadership that nominating Kim is bereaving the party of an opportunity to remove the stigma that the GNP is the main culprit behind the 1997 economic crisis. An official of the party is reported to convey the atmosphere of the party to former president.

Former president Kim, who has restrained from mentioning this issue, is said to express his disappointment to a high-ranking official of the GNP.

Some of the party leaders met together to work out a solution to this matter, but to no avail.

A source close to Kim Hyun-cheol said that nothing has been clear as to whether Hyun-cheol is going to ask for a GNP ticket.

Sung-Won Park swpark@donga.com