President Should Tell Us about 400 Billion Won Allegation

On October 8, 2002, Grand National Party’s leader Suh Chong-won commented on the allegation of $400 million secret aid to North Korea, “President Kim Dae Jung should tell the truth about the allegation. He was a direct party to the summit between North and South. He should immediately embark on the tracking of banking records to find out the truth.” He continued, “If his administration is trying to get away with it and cover it up, it has to realize what lies before it: tremendous resistance of citizens.”

Suh has defined as “5 major incidents against national interest” the $4 million allegation, the splurging of 157 trillion won (approximately $13 billion), the secret cozy relationship between politicians and businessmen, the ignorance of the warning against the outbreak of Yellow Sea Engagement, and the mobilization of government agencies for partisan purposes. Suh continued arguing, “President should clear up all the smears and debacles he has committed so far. That way, President Kim can pave the way for the successful harmony and advancement during the next administration.”

GNP leader Suh suggests as major national goals establishment of the most clean government in history, opening of an era of harmony under which no one is discriminated for his/her political belief or regional background, balancing among people of various social strata and extreme beliefs, establishment of a society where women can freely pursue happiness, providing high-quality education, and establishment of sound foundations for the peaceful unification between North and South.

In order to accomplish these goals, he proposed, “The political neutrality should be guaranteed in operation of the 8 major national agencies such the Prosecutors’ Office, National Intelligence Service, The Board of Audit & Inspection of Korea, National Tax Service, and Financial Supervisory Service. We GNP members will also seek to extent the statue of limitations for crimes committed by high-ranking officials and elective officials. We will also pursue straining President’s pardoning power by putting limits on it.” He also stressed, “There will be no political retaliation whatsoever. We will prohibit any invocation of the investigation power which might look as a political retaliation.”

Furthermore, Suh promises to introduce the complete adoption system under which a child can use the surname of his/her stepfather, to revise the order of inheritance of the status of the household’s head, to expand the benefits of the mandatory education down to children of 5 years of age, and to privatize the college admissions procedures by the year of 2007.

Yeon-Wook Jung jyw11@donga.com