Former President Calls Situation Crisis
By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
Former President Kim Dae-jung Tuesday described as a ``crisis" the current situation in which liberals were beaten by conservatives by a large margin in the Dec. 19 presidential election.
In his New Year's meeting with leaders of the United New Democratic Party (UNDP) at his house in Seoul, Kim said, ``The UNDP lost votes which elected me (in 1997) and President Roh (in 2002). This must be a crisis.''
He said, ``Over the past 50 years, there has been no case of the democratic power suffering such a crushing defeat as this. Even when the authoritarian Park Chung-hee government was oppressing us, the ballot gap was not wider than in this election.''
^Kim called on UNDP leaders to regain voters' support by performing credible political activities, adding he believes that some people who went back to the conservative Grand National Party (GNP) are not fully confident about future conditions.
He likened the defeat of the liberals to parents' reproaching a child with a cane for doing something wrong. But he said the parents didn't abandon their child.
UNDP chairman Oh Choong-il said he regretted not being able to deliver the goods in December, referring to the support of the former President during the campaign.
UNDP floor leader Kim Hyo-seuk attributed the defeat to failure in generating an alliance of liberal candidates, promising the former President that the party is preparing for a fresh start, based on a reshuffle.
Many critics say the defeat of liberals was inevitable amid several major policy failures of the Roh Moo-hyun administration, which disappointed middle and low-income voters.