Why My Name Is Here? I Don’t Get it!

An ad titled “Let’s build up a reformed government of people without corruption” was run in major papers on September 4, 2002. The ad was ordered by a group named “Citizens’ Federation for National Reform” (CFNR).

The reason the ad drew our attention is the 53 political figures’ names listed in the ad such as Kim Jae-soon (Honorary Chairman and advisor), former House of Speaker Lee Man-sup, former Premier Lee Soo-sung, Park Kun-hae, Lee In-jae and Kim Yoon-hwan. Many people considered this as the signal of the birth of a new party.

But each of the people listed denied any relationship with the CFNR. Each of Lee Man-sup and Kim Jae-soon, two ex-Speakers, said, “I have not received even a phone call from the CFNR. I don’t understand how my name was listed there.” Also Lee In-jae and Park Kun-hae got perplexed and said, “I have never heard of the organization.”

Also included in the draft of the ad were Ex-Premier Lee Han-dong and independent Congressman Chong Mong-joon. But, both got to know of the ad in answering phone calls from the press seeking confirmation. Thus, they got their names off the list by explaining that they had nothing to do with the organization.

But, what’s really surprising is the attitude of the CFNR, which ran the ad. It has not denied its unauthorized use of luminaries’ names.

One CFNR official confirmed, “We have not obtained the consent of each and every of the luminaries listed. We believed that they would agree to the reform of our country. Thus we put their names in the ad. But, in fact, we have received lots of protesting calls from them.”

He continued, “Now we don’t have any candidate who could be next President. We just ran the ad in order to unite the people who are eager to reform the nation. We will organize a political party consisting of ordinary citizens. And we will select our own presidential candidate.”

The CFNR is led by former government official Hwang Jae-chun (Chief vice-chairman and Rev. Chun Sang-bong (Director General). The history of the CFNR traces back to an organization set up 12 years ago.

Regarding the ad cost, the CFNR explained, “We chipped in bit by bit. As a result, running the ad cam true much later than expected.”

Jeong-Hun Kim Min-Hyuk Park jnghn@donga.com mhpark@donga.com