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Former President Kim Dae-jung |
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Former President Kim Dae-jung urged President Roh Moo-hyun to apologize for having approved a probe into allegations his 2000 inter-Korean summit was bought, lawmakers from the pro-governing camp said Thursday.
Kim also called on Roh to apologize for his desertion from the now-defunct Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) in 2003 after winning the 2002 presidential election on the party's ticket.
Roh and his followers bolted from then ruling MDP in 2003 and established the Uri Party, which has been ``transformed'' into a new political party, the United New Democratic Party (UNDP).
The former president's rare criticism of the incumbent head of state came as the pro-governing camp are struggling to join forces and field a presidential nominee to compete with opposition candidate Lee Myung-bak of the main opposition Grand National Party in the Dec. 19 election.
Political analysts say Kim's latest remarks are construed as an expression of his long-sustained discontent over Roh's defection and the summit scandal. But Kim, in fact, aims to help facilitate the regrouping of the split pro-governing camp by calling on Roh and his supporters to first extend an olive branch to antagonists in the governing camp for unity, they said.
The UNDP has failed to merge with the minor opposition Democratic Party, successor of the MDP, but analysts anticipate the two parties would likely join hands before December's presidential polls.
``Roh should have apologized to people for his defection (from the MDP) and the independent special counsel over the summit scandal in order to pay off an old score,'' Kim was quoted as saying by former Uri Party leadership who paid a courtesy call at Kim's residence in Seoul on Thursday.
``The people elected Roh Moo-hyun president on MDP's ticket but (Roh and his supporters) split the party without consent from the people,'' Kim said. ``That's the reason the people have turned their backs on the Uri Party.''
Kim won the Nobel Peace Prize in late 2000 for his life-long inter-Korean reconciliation efforts culminating in the first-ever summit in Pyongyang with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
But the feat was severely marred after revelations that the then Kim Dae-jung government transferred some $500 million to North Korea through a big conglomerate, shortly before the summit began on June 13, as part of efforts to convince Pyongyang to agree to the unprecedented summit.
Opposition leaders alleged the payment was a bribe to North Korea and called for adopting an independent special counsel for the case, and Kim at that time acknowledged the cash payment to the North and appealed for public understanding that the payment was needed to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Roh, who took over the presidency from Kim in February 2003, approved a parliamentary request in March to form an independent counsel to conduct a full-scale probe into the cash-for-summit scandal.
Special prosecutors summoned Kim's close aides and businessmen for the case. The Hyundai Business Group later admitted it had sent $500 million to obtain the exclusive right to launch cross-border businesses including the Mount Geumgang tourism project and establish an industrial park in the North.
Under South Korean law, secret payment to North Korea is illegal because the North is South Korea's main enemy.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
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