New Chairman Kim Geun-tae is trying to solidify his status as the last man standing among the Uri Party leadership. What is the best way to do that? Bash President Roh:
Asked in a press conference why he thought former supporters in the [Honam/Jeolla] region turned a cold shoulder to his party, Kim first cited Roh’s acceptance of the opposition party’s call for a special investigation into the previous Kim Dae-jung administration’s illicit dealings with North Korea, ahead of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000. He also criticized Roh’s proposal last year to form a coalition government with the opposition Grand National Party (GNP). `I think the two caused misunderstanding, causing voters to feel disappointed.’
Now I realize that the good folks down in Honam may want to canonize favorite son KDJ, but the results of the investigation (six convictions, including two prominent Kim administration officials - Lee Ki-ho and Lim Dong-won) showed that there was something worth investigating. There is no telling who else would have gotten caught if Roh had not chosen to end the special prosecutor’s probe when he did. Kim is off-base here.
On the other hand, Kim’s pandering to Honamer’s finely-tuned sense of victimization makes political sense. He will need those Jeolla/Gwangju votes when he seeks Uri’s presidential nomination next year.
Of course, Roh’s coalition idea was just plain dumb.
2 Comments
Was it? It sounds more like a true believer, which is what Kim is, who’s intent on a self-inflicted auto da’fe for himself and his party under the banner of ideological purity. It might get him a hearing among the diehards in Jeolla but, standing alone, it looks like a surefire way to make himself and his party irrelevant to the non-sentimental, non-ideological concerns of the rest of the population. It also puts him and Uri even more squarely in competition with the rump of the Millenium Democrats (or whatever they are called now) for the same base. Could news for the conservatives, though; but less good for Korea if the folks in Jeolla buy into it and it gives more oxygen to sectionalism.
Kim Guen Tae’s recent career has been very much the odd-man-out. I did like him in many ways before now but it could be that he is trapped in the icebox on the ship of fools. I guess that is a good place to be if one’s party is indeed having their self-immolation cookout.
Kim Guen Tae really is a likeable fellow too, which is too bad.