Roh Promises to Eradicate Discrimination

Roh moo-hyun, presidential candidate of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) said yesterday that if elected as president, he would establish a committee to systematically prevent discrimination against females, the elderly, the handicapped and foreigners.

He made the remarks at the `National Vision and Strategic Policy Forum` hosted by the National Vision 21 Committee, an subordinate committee of the MDP Election Campaign Committee. "I will make a society in which the lesser can live in safety," Roh said, "I will created 2.5 million jobs within five years by fostering information technology industry, increasing the number of social workers and providing assistance for companies that aim at entering into foreign markets. Then I will work hard to achieve the state full employment through an aggressive labor market policy."

He reconfirmed his pledge to relocate the administrative capital of the nation to the Chungcheong region, saying, "The core government ministries will be located in the same area, but other government agencies will be efficiently located throughout the nation. I will expand and organically line the roads across the nation so that the proposed administrative capital can be reached in two hours from anywhere in the nation."

He proposed two visions of Korea; a cultural nation where growth, distribution and the environment are harmonized with each other and a backbone nation in Asia underpinned by peace and co-prosperity.

Hyung-gwon Pu bookum90@donga.com