Past presidential aides offer advice to President Kim

The chiefs of staff who served under Korea's most recent presidents advised President Kim Dae-Jung in one voice to guard against excessive ambition and decisively delegate powers to subordinate officials in the remaining period of his term of office.

Former Prime Minister Roh Jae-Bong, who served as Cheong Wa Dae chief of staff under ex-President Roh Tae-Woo, challenged Kim to do as he said when he promised to take the right path and abide by moral principles.

"Public sentiment is very unfavorable and the points at issue are so diverse that it is hard to pinpoint a way out," Roh said. "I must admit that I feel befuddled myself."

Former National Assemblyman Kim Yong-Tae, who was President Kim Young-Sam's chief of staff, said he sometimes wishes that the information delivered to presidents didn't have to be taken with a grain of salt. " Since the bureaucracy is closed by nature, those who assist the Chief Executive must to give him a broad range of information," Kim said. "This means the president himself should keep his ears open in order to hear the many voices."

"The president also must accept the participation of professional management, as in the corporate sector. The president cannot take care of everything by himself. Economic affairs need to be left up to the economic team, which then has to be held accountable to the president," Kim said.

Similar advice came from Rep. Park Kwan-Yong of the Grand National Party, who previously served as presidential chief of staff. Once experts have been recruited into the public service, he said, they should be accorded responsibilities as well as powers.

" It is advisable for the president to make judgments on a grand scale, devolving powers upon his subordinates and letting them share the authority," Park said.

He said the stage-managed defection of Millennium Democratic Party lawmakers to the splinter United Liberal Democrats indicates President Kim's obsession with prolonging his grip on power. "If this obsession is thrown away, all things will come out well," he said.