Roh Calls for Reelection for Presidential Candidacy

Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, Mu-Hyun Roh proposed on June 17 to hold another primary to choose the presidential candidate for the party after the by-election on August 8.

Roh said, “I don’t oppose inviting anyone for the party membership and holding another primary from the square one,” and added, “I am willing give up all my privileges as the elected candidate and accept electing presidential candidate through another popular election,” at the meeting held today at the party headquarter with party leaders, party officials and democratic parliamentary members.

He went on to say, “In principle, I am not opposed to vote of confidence through the party convention. But when the convention could bring entangle the party with factions and power struggle, which could have a severe negative impact on the August 8 by-election, which could mean another hunt for scapegoat, so lets settle the whole issue (after the August 8 by-election) at once.”

He expressed his negative views about unilateral resignation of the party leadership and said, “Making the party drift aimlessly is not a responsible thing to do. So, I will take complete responsibility with another election for presidential candidate from square one.” He also suggested forming a special committee, which will be responsible for the by-election candidate nomination.

The majority faction of the Democratic Party called directly dealing with the issue of vote of confidence for the presidential candidate by holding a party convention to resolve the issue. However, some difficulty in finding the direction for the party is expected as the party membership from the Choongchung Province and the so-called Donggyo-dong faction are likely to call for Roh’s immediate resignation and holding the party convention early.

On the other hand, parliamentary member Seung-Hee Ham asserted in the meeting today that “President Dae-Jung Kim must spearhead the corruption involving his close circles and his sons, and if he doesn’t apologize, the party must part from him.” However, parliamentary member Jae-Hwan Cho challenged and said, “We must not haggle with President now that he gave up his membership in the party.”

The Democratic Party plans to hold a meeting of the party leadership on June 18 and party meeting on June 19 to arrive at a decision regarding vote of confidence for Roh.

Young-Chan Yoon Jeong-Hun Kim yyc11@donga.com jnghn@donga.com