GNP Threatens to Veto PM Designate

Rep. Lee Hae-chan of the Millennium Democratic Party has been put in the hot water since he revealed that a senior prosecutor asked him to rekindle the draft-dodging scandal surrounding Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang`s son.

Amid mounting controversy over what the GNP called is a political maneuvering, Park Yeong-gwan, director of the 1st Special Investigation Division of the Seoul District Pubic Prosecutors` Office, who is at the center of the controversy, will remain in office.

The GNP, which has demanded his replacement, is vehemently opposing the prosecution`s decision and threatening to seek a no-confidence motion on Justice Minister Kim Jeong-gil and veto Prime Minister designate Chang Dae-whan.

Following GNP chairman Suh Chung-won`s press conference and a campaign to criticize the `political maneuvering` conducted by the Kim Dae-jung administration, the GNP convened a general meeting of its lawmakers. In the meeting, GNP lawmakers decided to seek a no-confidence motion on the Justice Minister on the 26th, saying that despite the fact that Park Yeong-gwan should be arrested for stirring national confusion, the Kim administration intends to continue its maneuvering by having Park hold onto his post.

The GNP is said to explore ways to veto the Justice Minister at the plenary meeting of the National Assembly scheduled for the 28th to be held to deal with the confirmation issue for acting Premier Chang.

A senior official of the GNP said, "We will make a decision on whether to confirm the acting Premier after seeing how his confirmation hearing would go. But the consensus is that he might be vetoed for suspicions that have been revealed so far surrounding him. The party will have to set a party-level position to veto him, rather than leaving the decision to individual lawmakers."

The MDP said that the GNP`s offensive is designed to cover up the suspicion over the military exemption of Lee`s son, and that it would strongly react if the GNP seeks a no-confidence motion on the Justice Minister.

Lee Nak-yeon, MDP spokesman said, "The GNP is attempting to thwart the investigation into the draft-dodging scandal by seeking the no-confidence motion. The MDP will stop the GNP`s bid at any cost."

Amid this escalating tension between the rival parties, the political arena is expected to further strain next week, when the confirmation hearing for acting Premier Chang is scheduled.

Meanwhile, as Park Yeong-gwan will remain in office despite the stir cause by Rep. Lee Hae-chan, the reliability of the investigation into the draft-dodging scandal is expected to become yet another controversy.

Regarding this, some prosecutors say that the personnel manager unreasonably insisted the decision. A senior prosecutor said, "There is no reason that Park should be in office. I don`t understand why such a decision was made."

But other prosecutors said that the decision was inevitable because if the prosecution was swayed by the political sector, it would have a lot of difficulties in investigating cases.

ysmo@donga.com jnghn@donga.com