Uri Party Chair: Roh, Party Diverging

Kim Geun-tae, the chairman of the Uri Party, said, “Both the president and the ruling party are judged by the public in elections. However, if the president insists that he has nothing to do with the ruling party according to the ‘separation of the government and the ruling party,’ the politics of responsibility cannot be realized.”

In an interview with Dong-A Ilbo at the press center in Taepyeong-ro, Kim said, “The government is complying well with the principles of the separation of the government and the ruling party. However, President Roh has gone as far as to say, ‘I will not meddle in the matters related to the party. Therefore, the party should not intervene in the government when it comes to the valuation of new policies.’ That is where the tragedy started.” He also added that the dramatic decrease of the party’s approvals was because the government and the ruling party did not show systematical consistency.

Kim said, “The president is interested in making great achievements that will be written down in history while the party is concerned with the presidential election and general election. It can be said that the president and the party are viewing the world from a different perspective. This will bring about another unhappy event, and I am worried about how to cope with that.”

Kim’s remarks imply that he will strongly urge the president to be in accord with the party in order to win victories in the upcoming presidential elections in 2007 and general election in 2008. Now, the relationship between the two, Chairman Kim and President Roh, is drawing national attention.

When asked of his thoughts on why President Roh is leaving the party, Kim said, “The act of a president simply leaving the party at the twilight of his term and not taking responsibility for the nation’s instability is no different from weakening the party politics, the key element of the politics of responsibility. President Roh should also be judged in the next presidential elections, and the victory of Uri Party will only come with the success of President Roh.”

Also, he pointed out that the problem between the current administration and the ruling party is “institutional and constitutional limits” and said, “I am expecting to tackle the problems related to introducing the presidential re-election system and the accord of the presidential election and general election cycles at least, since the presidential election and the general elections will be interlocked for the first time in 20 years.”

When asked about the proposals he made to give up vested rights and to cooperate with Goh Kun, the former prime minister of Korea, he said, “I asked Goh to team up with the party to prevent the defeat of the local elections. However, Goh refused my proposal. That was all. There were no further suggestions made after that.”

Kim, who once served as the minister of health and welfare, revealed his thoughts about the national pension system reform, “The government should have pushed the reform with the power it had in its early days,” suggesting that the Roh administration will face certain difficulties in propelling the reform, which has now entered its final days.

Kim strongly criticized the failed economic policies of the current administration, “The former high ranking officials of the economic departments are now the decision makers of economic policies. However, the government didn’t even give thoughts about the side effects the new economy policies will have when abruptly changing into a market economy from the economy system of the militaristic dictatorship.”

Dong-Yong Min jin0619@donga.com mindy@donga.com