S. KOREA'S ROH, OPPOSITION MEET FOR FIRST TIME

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP05T02051R000200350094-8
Release Decision: 
RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
August 12, 2011
Sequence Number: 
94
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
May 29, 1988
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP05T02051R000200350094-8.pdf169.95 KB
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Approved For Release 2011/08/12 : CIA-RDPO5TO2O51 R000200350094-8 ~~i?II\GION POST ~-~ DATE Jzl+j1 _ NFW YORK TIMES WALL STREET J. VMHJNGION TIMES THE WASHINGTON POST WORLD NEWS S. Korea's Roh, Opposition Meet For First Time By Peter Maass Special to The Washington Post SEOUL, May 28-South Korean President Roh Tae Woo and the country's three main op- position leaders agreed at their first face-to-face meeting today that only the government should conduct reunification discussions with commu- nist North Korea. The agreement on the sensitive issue, which has been the focus of intense debate and protest in Seoul, came during a long and apparently pro- ductive summit between Roh and "the three Kims" of the opposition-leftist Kim Dae Jung, centrist Kim Young Sam and maverick conser- vative Kim Jong Pil. The four-hour talk was their first meeting since Roh was elected in December and took place just a month after the opposition won a majority in the National Assembly. There were no reported breakthroughs, but the meeting at the presidential palace appeared to be aimed at getting next week's National As- sembly opening off to a good start. For the first time in the country's history, the opposition will control the legislature, and ana- lysts say that with the Summer Olympics begin- ning in just over three months here, friction be- tween Roh and the Kims, as well as among the Kims themselves, could create an unwelcome dose of political turbulence at a crucial time. The meeting began with smiles and ended with positive words by the four men. Kim Dae Jung, viewed as the opposition's harshest gov- ernment critic, told a news conference after the talks, "I came to understand what the president AGENCE FRANCE- South Korean President Roh Tae Woo, right, greets opposition leader Kim Dae Jung before the talks. oAESSE has in mind, and I expect that politics will be exempt from punishment. Roh also said the done smoothly through dialogue." Presidential scope of a proposed political amnesty should be spokesman Lee Soo Jung told reporters, "The limited in the interests of national security. Kim president and the three opposition leaders were Dae Jung reportedly disagreed, arguing for a all content with their meeting and agreed to release of all prisoners of conscience except meet often in the future." those clea l h r y sympat etic to North Korea. Despite apparent agreement on the impor- But on the key issue of reunification, the four nce of sta in f l ta g g a success u Olympics and the potentially negative impact of violent student protests during the Games, Roh and the Kims were said to remain at odds over several key issues 'facing the country. Roh reportedly called on the three Kims to limit parliamentary probes into past government corruption and into the 1980 Kwangju uprising, in which the opposition claims that as many as 2,000 people may have been killed. According to spokesman Lee, Roh warned that the probes could divide the nation and in- sisted that former president Chun Doo Hwan be men reportedly agreed that the government should be the sole representative of South Ko- reans in contacts with North Korea. Radical stu- dent and dissident, groups have proposed in re- cent weeks to set up independent channels of communication with Pyongyang to try to thaw the frozen contacts between North and South. The radical students and dissidents, who sup- port North Korea's call for cohosting the Olym- pics, represent a new challenge to the govern- ment on the reunification issue. They also risk inflaming anti-American sentiments in South Ko- rea, which have broadened in recent weeks. Approved For Release 2011/08/12 : CIA-RDPO5TO2O51 R000200350094-8