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2 South Korea's Roh in a one-man
show By Donald Kirk
the destruction of what had been a
crowded and rather ugly thoroughfare, exposing a
long-forgotten stream beneath it. The stream,
bordered by walkways and bolstered by water pumped
in from the broad Han River, which bisects central
Seoul, provides a refreshing counterpoint to the
competitive atmosphere of the throbbing business
districts and marketplaces through which it runs
on its way back to the Han.
Lee earns
respect not just for his record as a reform-minded
mayor but for his overall acumen as an economist
and business
leader. Before his plunge
into politics more than 15 years ago, he was
chairman of Hyundai Engineering and Construction,
forging the company's wild expansion in the 1980s
into markets around the world, notably the Middle
East.
Faith in Lee's economic skills is
viewed as the main reason his popularity at this
stage is well above that of his closest rival for
the conservative nomination, Park Geun-hye, the
only daughter of the late president Park Kun-hee,
assassinated by his intelligence chief in October
1979. Park scored just 22.5% in the latest poll,
even though she has been an articulate critic of
Roh's record, accusing him of toadying to North
Korea with little to show in return for
concessions.
While ignoring the revival of
conservative political fortunes, Roh harked back
to his own up-and-down-and-up-again fortunes in
the 2002 presidential campaign. The Uri Party,
formed in the months before the campaign, was
"hitting bottom in approval ratings" a couple of
months before the election that year but bounced
back in time for the voting.
At the same
time, Roh was passionate in defense of his own
performance, brushing back criticism of his record
on the economy in favor of his concern with the
mass of middle- and working-class Koreans.
"Some people think the real issue is the
economy," he said. "What I have focused on is
welfare policy. Social capital has a direct
influence on democracy, social order as well as
human rights. The economy is just the foundation."
Yes, he said, there are "concerns about
the break of the bubble", but there is no danger
of a "hard landing". And just in case the bubble
does burst, he said, "We should do our best to
make sure there is a soft landing."
But
what about a chorus of recriminations over
skyrocketing real-estate prices? "We have come up
with stronger measures," he said. "Housing prices
will not rise as much as you may think." For those
who are worried about lack of funds, he advised,
"Buy a house within your range."
Roh was
equally defensive when it came to conservative
criticism of his drive for rapprochement with
North Korea. The role of his government is to
"provide a good atmosphere for the US and North
Korea" to work out a solution to the nuclear
issue, he said, and "act as a party that provides
incentives". He accused "the opposition party" of
"ulterior motives" in criticizing him for wanting
good relations with a neighbor.
Roh saw no
chance, though, of a second inter-Korean summit -
that is, a meeting between him and North Korea's
Kim Jong-il, who received Kim Dae-jung in
Pyongyang in June 2000 for the only such summit
ever held between the leaders of the two Koreas.
"The six-party talks are the framework,"
Roh said, a reminder of the need for the US,
China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas to resume
negotiations in Beijing on North Korea's nuclear
weapons. "The summit has to come after the
six-party talks." But the whole topic has become
distasteful. "I would like to ask the media to
refrain from talking about an inter-Korean
summit," he pleaded. "I am not making any attempts
toward an inter-Korean summit."
Roh was
still more annoyed by speculation in the foreign
press about the possibility of North Korea
conducting a second nuclear test. "Perspectives on
North Korea on the part of the United States have
a great influence," he said. "They may project a
bad image." He would like, he said, "to ask the
national press to be more prudent, as opposed to
the foreign press".
Journalist
Donald Kirk has been
covering Korea - and the confrontation of forces
in Northeast Asia - for more than 30
years.
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