Three-party, Three-taste Reactions to Campaign Fund Scandal Hearing

The reactions toward the scandal of the close aides of President Roh Moo-hyun greatly differ according to the three different parties; one might call it “three parties, three tastes.”

First, the Grand National Party (GNP) announced on January 26 that they will again promote another public hearing.

“We will look into how well the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) has secured related documents and then decide whether or not we will proceed with a promotion for a public hearing,” said GNP Chairman Choe Byung-ryol at the Permanent Administration Committee that day.

This stance was derived from their judgment that their image from the “car-load cash” scandal can be spotlighted again through this hearing.

“What is important now is not to dig out the scope of the campaign funds during the last presidential election, but rather to show a real change in the parties through strict self-reflection,” said Rep. Kim Moo-sung.

The same day, Chairman Choe ordered Rep. Kim Yong-kyun, who is the leading GNP legislator on the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, to find out how expansive the MDP’s document collection is regarding the campaign fund scandal of President Roh’s camp.

At the Permanent Central Committee the same day, the MDP reasserted their position that a public hearing is inevitable since the prosecution’s investigation is incomplete and biased.

Also, they responded to the criticism raised by Cheong Wa Dae and the Uri Party that their decision is a political tactic at the time of the general election, saying, “This is not part of a political revenge but instead is a method to satisfy the people’s right to know. If they want to avoid a hearing when they are the subject of it, it only means that they want to cover up the truth.”

“The public hearing will not be open to reiterating the same discovered truth time and time again. Our party will devote ourselves to discovering new facts with newly identified high-level information,” said Policy Director Chang Sung-won.

The witnesses will be mainly new personalities, not those who have appeared on the media before, according to their explanation.

Meanwhile, the Uri Party raised their voice in criticism on January 16, calling the two parties’ staging of the hearing as a “GNP-MDP cooperation to conceal their crime.”

“The GNP and the MDP’s promotion of a public hearing is nothing but partisan politics to distract the national attention which is now focused on the Uri Party,” criticized Chairman Chung Dong-young.