President Roh and Former Uri Chairmen Debate Issues

President Roh on one side and former Uri chairmen Chung Dong-young and Kim Geun-tae on the other recently had a heated debate on some issues.

First of all, both sides have very different ideas of the integrated new party.

President Roh sees the new party as a “return to regionalism.” In his post on “Cheong Wa Dae Briefing,” he argued, “The regionalist theory that an alliance of forces from Jeolla and Chungcheong provinces will bring a victory is an illusion.”

Chung argued that the new party is the restoration of split democratic reformist forces and should be reunited with the Democratic Party. He emphasized, “It is a biased way of thinking to define the Democratic Party as a regional political party.”

However, the Democratic party is “a regional party forever” to President Roh.

The debate is connected to the so-called “Yeongnam new party creation theory.”

Roh argued, “There are rumors that I think it does not matter whether the Uri Party wins the presidential election or not, or that I am trying to create a new Yeongnam party for next year’s general elections. They are baseless.”

However, Chung and Kim have doubts. Chung’s demand of the dissolution of the “participatory government evaluation forum” led by pro-Roh people comes from his judgment that those pro-Roh people are trying to create a “pro-Roh party” and prepare for the elections. Kim criticized Roh, saying, “I have never been a regionalist. Isn’t it President Roh himself who has consistently clung to a particular region?”

This gap in understanding has led to a debate on the dissolution of the Uri Party.

President Roh said, “I am against disbanding the party irresponsibly and with no principles; I am not against creating a new integrated party in an orderly way.”

Chung and Kim suspect, however, that Roh wants to defend the party by whatever means necessary. They think it is evidenced by Roh’s argument, “Leave politics if you think the Uri Party has been so wrong that it needs to be disbanded.”

Even within the Uri Party, some say that Roh’s position is confusing. They suspect that Roh is putting more weight on defending the Uri Party.

A source in the Uri Party said, “Whatever rhetoric is used, it seems that President Roh and the two former chairmen all want to prolong their political power. The two former chairmen will not be free from their responsibility as far as the Uri Party continues to exist. President Roh’s political base will disappear if the party is dissolved.”

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