Lee-Roh Engaged in Full-fledged Competition for Presidency

As Roh Moo-hyun of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) and Chung Mong-joon of the National Alliance 21 has successfully united and nominated a single presidential candidate, the election landscape has been reshaped into a two-way competition between Roh and Lee Hoi-chang of the Grand National Party (GNP). With the two-way confrontation looming large for the presidential election, the two rival parties are gearing up for coming up with new strategy to secure the competitive edge.

Both parties have recognized that the prerequisite for the victory of the election is to forestall the rival in major issues. Under this recognition they plan to be actively engaged in forming alliances with the third forces and recruiting lawmakers from other parties.

The GNP plans to emphasize that Roh is the successor of the incumbent administration, which has been mired in a number of corruption scandals. That is in an attempt to tarnish Roh`s clean image. On the other hand, Roh is expected to put pressure on Lee by calling for a shift in generation.

Lee of the GNP attended in an interview with a radio broadcasting system and said, “After they fielded a single candidate, the competition will be the confrontation between a force that tries to remain in power under the auspice of the incumbent regime and a force that tries to replace the old regime and reform the nation.”

Suh Chung-won, GNP chairman, also said in a party meeting, “Roh has continuously called himself as the loyal successor of President Kim Dae-jung. This election will determine whether the corrupt Kim government could remain in power or not..”

The GNP is bending over backwards to hold out its votes in the Busan and Gyeongnam regions, which have long been the stronghold of the conservative party. Also the GNP plans to contact lawmakers in the United Liberal Democrats (ULD) and anti-Roh lawmakers in the MDP in a bid to bring them to its fold.

Meanwhile, Roh attended a meeting of the party`s election committee and said, “The GNP tries to dub this competition as a competition between the conservatives and the liberals. But the MDP is not a liberal party and I do not intend to move toward the left. The public call for the national unity by eradicating the anachronistic politics and overcoming regional hatred.”To fight back against the GNP`s attack focused on tying Roh to the corruption-laden incumbent government, the MDP plans to attack the GNP with the draft-dodging scandal involving Lee`s sons and the allegation of Lee`s receiving illegal money from a construction company.

The MDP sees the Busan and Gyeongnam regions as the hottest battle field. Thus the party moved its political reform promotion office to Busan and decided to focus its energy on gaining ground in the regions.

The MDP held a meeting of supreme councilors and officially announced its resolution to bring back the break-away lawmakers. The party has also begun reaching out to minor political parties such as the ULD to form an anti-Lee alliance.

In the meantime, break-away lawmakers, who oppose Roh, will hold a meeting today to discuss their future course of action.

Yeon-Wook Jung Young-Chan Yoon jyw11@donga.com yyc11@donga.com