Roh Still Down on Nominee Chung
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
President Roh Moo-hyun said Monday that he still holds hard feelings toward United New Democratic Party (UNDP) nominee Chung Dong-young for his role in dissolving the now-defunct ruling Uri Party.
Chung was one of the core members who created the Uri Party.
In an interview with an online media company, Roh said that he plans to sit down with Chung in the near future to listen what caused the UNDP nominee to dump his old party to create a new one.
``It was not my own choice to leave the Uri Party in February. In fact, I was forced to do so,'' the President said.
``A power struggle is common in other countries, but it is not common for the founders of a political party to decide to let the party dissolve and virtually oust another core leader, just because both leaders hold a different point of view.''
Roh said it was true that he is still emotionally uncomfortable, but he believes that a minor issue should not hold back a major agenda.
He stressed that unity inside the party was more important than building a working relationship with Chung.
Chung has made no comment on Roh's reaction.
Close aides of Chung, however, said they were embarrassed by Roh's comments as the UNDP nominee has kept making efforts to build a political partnership with the President since he won the party nomination on Oct. 15.
Since former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, a close confidant of the President, ran unsuccessfully in the party's primary race, one of the concerns among Cheong Wa Dae and UNDP officials has been the relationship between Roh and Chung.
Chung has been seeking better relations with President Roh since his election as the party's standard-bearer.
The two fell out after an argument at their last meeting on April 27. They reportedly argued over whether the now-defunct governing Uri Party should be dissolved to create a grand coalition of liberal groups.
``Considering Chung's position on the President and the presidential office, it is not easy to support him in an active manner,'' the aide said.
He also said, ``For the improvement of their relationship, the two will need to restore their mutual trust in political principles if they want to be political partners again.''
Chung used to be a close political ally of Roh and served as his unification minister between 2004 and 2005. But their relationship began to sour starting early this year as public approval ratings for both Roh and the now-defunct Uri Party dived to record lows.
Chung, who deserted the Uri Party in June, criticized Roh as a ``self-righteous, arrogant power holder engaging in a reign of terror,'' in an apparent bid to distance himself from the unpopular President. In response, Roh described Chung as an ``unprincipled opportunist.''
A television anchor-turned-politician, Chung led some 40 lawmakers to defect from the now-disbanded Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), which generated ``President Roh Moo-hyun'' in the 2002 election, and established the Uri Party (now reborn as the UNDP) in 2003 under the banner of ``reform.''
There is speculation that Roh may actually be thinking of linking up with maverick presidential candidate Moon Kook-hyun.
Fueling that speculation, a number of Roh aides and supporters have recently joined Moon's camp. The presidential office flatly denied the possibility of a Roh-Moon alliance, calling it ``fiction.''
Moon, a former chief executive of Yuhan Kimberly, is being touted as a possible presidential candidate of the broad liberal camp if it manages to produce a single candidate.
UNDP candidate Chung has said he is willing to compete with Moon to be the unified candidate of the liberal camp.