Vice Prime Minister Lee to Meet 386 Generation Lawmakers of Ruling Party

Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lee Hun-jae will meet Uri Party lawmakers who are classified as loyalists to President Roh Moo-hyun on August 18. According to the Finance Ministry and the Uri Party yesterday, Vice Prime Minister Lee is expected to attend the inaugural meeting and symposium of the “Research Center on New Parliamentary Politics” held in the Members’ Hall at 10 a.m. on August 18 to deliver a congratulatory address.

The “Research Center on New Parliamentary Politics” is a group organized under the lead of Roh’s close aide, Rep. Lee Kwang-jae, in which Rep. Kang Bong-kyun and Kim Hyuk-kyu participate as advisors as well as other so-called “386 generation” Uri lawmakers. It is classified as a group of loyalists to President Roh corresponding between each other with Cheong Wa Dae.

What topic Vice Prime Minister Lee who will raise in the address is becoming the center of attention, as Lee successively made bitter remarks aiming at the so-called 386 generation, including the remark saying, “The 386 generation doesn’t have an economic mind.”

Because the subject of the symposium is “the Korean economy: how can we revive it,” Vice Prime Minister Lee is expected to emphasize that it is important to comply with the principles of a market economy for an economic recovery.

Jong sik Kong kong@donga.com