GNP Lawmaker Under Fire for His Verbal Blunder

The Grand National Party (GNP) has come under fire because of verbal blunders by GNP lawmakers.

Following Rep. Kim Yong-gyun`s remarks on the `hometown of judges`, Supreme Council member Ha Sun-bong is being criticized for his remarks in favor of brand name universities.

Rep. Ha said in an interview with `Weekly Hankook` issued on the 27th, "Insight and Leadership of Lee Hoi-chang, the GNP presidential candidate, should be emphasized. Now is time Korea to have a blue blood president who went a prominent university."

Han Hwa-gap, the chairman of the Millennium Democratic Party criticized that his remarks reflect the sense of the privileged of Lee Hoi-chang." Lim Chae-jeong, the chairman of the MDP Policy Making Committee also blamed Ha, saying, "Rep. Kim revealed the GNP`s malicious intention for regional dictatorship, and now the party wants to make the nation only for the privileged."

Responding to the MDP`s criticism, Ha explained, "During the interview, I said that the next president should be the one who is well educated and has good judgement while talking about the competitiveness of leaders. Then a reporter asked me back, `Do you mean a person coming from a novel family and a brand name university?` So I answered, `That might be better.`"

Yeon-Wook Jung jyw11@donga.com