“People’s Trust Will Be Lost If Elections Are Government-Influenced”

Regarding the controversy over “government-influenced elections,” Cardinal “Stephen” Kim Sou-hwan warned that “If the elections are held surrounded by the suspicions of President Roh Moo-hyun and the Uri Party abusing government influence, they risk losing the people’s trust even if the Uri Party becomes the leading or the majority party.”

Cardinal Kim gave this opinion to the Uri Party leadership, including leader Chung Dong-young at the Hyehwa-dong Catholic Church in Seoul, adding, “(With the controversies of government-influenced elections,) the conflict will remain even after the general elections take place, and it will be difficult to bring about new political reform.”

“For the future of the nation, the coming elections must be held in a clean and fair manner. The people will trust the results only if a clean election is held even if the leading Uri Party do not obtain the most votes,” emphasized Cardinal Kim.

In answer to Rep. Lee Boo-young of the Uri Party’s refutation that “a government-influenced election is not possible in this day and age,” Cardinal Kim said, “At the president’s seat of authority, anything is possible under a plausible title,” giving the “relocation of the administrative capital” as an example.

“I would like to ask if the relocation is truly sensible, or if it was merely suggested to win votes. No one is able to explain the objective reasons of the move to the people,” pointed out Cardinal Kim.

He added that “I feel that even the GNP is thinking ‘we will lose votes if we don’t agree to the plan,’ but capital relocation should be discussed with the next 100 years, 1000 years in mind.”

Meanwhile, regarding the “People’s Participation 0415,” a pro-Roh civic group, Cardinal Kim expressed concern, commenting that “while it professes to advocate ‘clean election and people’s participation,’ the opposition says that the group’s main members are from Nosamo. Is this not true?”

Hyung-gwon Pu bookum90@donga.com