S. KOREAN OPPOSITION FAILS IN UNITY ATTEMPT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP05T02051R000200350098-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 98
• Publication Date: March 10, 1988
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/12 : CIA-RDP05TO2051 R000200350098-4
A40 THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 1988 ... B t
S,. Korean Opposition
Fails in UnityAttempt
Kim Dae Jung Refuses to Quit Party Post
By Peter Massa
special to The Washington Post
SEOUL, March 9-Opposition
leader Kim Dae Jung today defiant-
ly rejected calls for his resignation
from politics, a move that dashed
hopes for a merger of South Ko-
rea's main opposition parties before
legislative elections in April and vir-
tually ensured that the ruling party
will once again face a splintered an-
tigovernment movement.
Kim's announcement appeared to
mark the failure of several weeks of
complex maneuvering aimed at uni-
fying the country's 'center-left op-
position parties, still reeling from
their loss in the Dec. 16 presiden-
tial election. The antigovernment
vote was divided mainly between
Kim Dae Jung and his rival, Kim
Young Sam, allowing the ruling par-
ty's Roh Tae Woo to win the long-
awaited poll with 36 percent of the
votes.
Just as. the two Kims invited de-
feat by splitting the opposition vote
in the presidential election, rival op-
position candidates in congressional
districts are expected to split the
antigovernment vote, allowing rul-
ing-party nominees'to win with mi-
an official at Kim Dae Jung's Party
for Peace and Democracy. The of-
ficial's comment underscored the
dissent that has broken out even
within the PPD. Over the past two
months, it has lost several key
members who walked out over Kim
Dae Jung's refusal to step aside.
And after his press conference to-
day, scuffling and shouting broke
out between Kim Dae Jung loyalists
and dissident members who want
the party president to take a polit-
ical back seat.
Attention has been focusing on
Kim Dae Jung because Kim Young
Sam abruptly acceded to public
pressure last month by resigning as
president of his Reunification Dem-
ocratic Party. Although Kim Young
Sam still functions as the power
broker in that party and is said to
hope for a political comeback, his
public profile has been reduced.
A few weeks after his resigna-
tion, Kim Young Sam held a sur-
prise meeting with Kim Dae Jung,
their first encounter since they
failed last fall to agree on a single
opposition candidate. The two Kims
made a vague call for merging their
parties. Kim Young Sam's party
later said the merger could only
occur if Kim Dae Jung would also
nority victories. step back from active leadership in
Moreover, most political analysts the opposition.
believe that middle-class disaffec- "However, Kim Dae Jung said to-
tion with the squabbling opposition day he had no intention of stepping
parties will deepen, driving more down. "It is morally wrong and po-
votes to the ruling Democratic Jus- litically nonsensical to demand my
tice Party. retirement," he said. Instead, he
"We're heading for disaster," said proposed that the two opposition
THE WASHINGTON POST
parties agree to cooperate by not
running candidates in the same as-
sembly districts. He also suggested
that a unified opposition party, with
him and Kim Young Sam as co-
leaders, could be formed after the
assembly election.
Kim Young Sam immediately
blasted Kim Dae Jung's stance, say-
ing in a statement that he was try-
ing to "gloss over mounting calls for
his resignation."
Political analysts said Kim Dae
Jung's decision not to budge partly
reflected the innate stubbornness
that gave him the willpower to lead
the opposition through the oppres-
sive rules of presidents Park Chung
Hee and Chun Doo Hwan. But the
analysts said Kim Dae Jung's block-
age of an opposition merger is
mainly a clever, although cynical,
move aimed at turning the tables on
Kim Young Sam's party, which is
the largest opposition organization.
Under a new election law pushed
through the assembly this week by
the ruling Democratic Justice Par-
ty, Kim Dae Jung's party is likely to
become the largest opposition
group. The complex law favors par-
ties with concentrated areas of sup-
port. Kim Dae Jung's support is
concentrated in the Cholla prov-
inces and in urban areas elsewhere,
while Kim Young Sam's support is
spread more thinly over the entire
country.
Amid the opposition feuding, the
ruling party, which holds a majority
of assembly seats, was able to pass
its own election law. The ruling par-
ty had tried to reach a compromise
with the opposition parties, but be-
cause the opposition was unable to
unite behind one proposal, the rul-
ing party called a quick vote early
yesterday morning on its own pro-
posed law. Opposition legislators
hurled books and small objects at
the speaker's podium, but the law
was passed.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/12 : CIA-RDP05TO2051 R000200350098-4