Signs of Reconciliation between Former Coalition Partners DJ and JP

There are signs of a thawing in the relationship between President Kim Dae-jung (DJ), who is also the leader of the ruling Millenium Democratic Party (MDP), and Kim Jong-pil (JP), president and honorary founder of the minor opposition United Liberal Democrats (ULD).

The nation's political camps are speculating that DJ and JP have already completed a feeling out prosess on the possibility of a bilateral meeting and a change of regulations which would allow the ULD to form a parliamentary negotiation group.

The ruling MDP and the ULD have already decided to hold a meeting around May 24. Supposedly, they will be meeting to discuss the creation of a committee to pursue national harmony, but an MDP official said Wednesday that the two parties would place priority on discussing current political issues, such as the creation of the 16th National Assembly and the election of the parliamentary speaker.

It is even possible that the ULD, the ruling party's former coalition partner, may realign itself with the MDP if the ruling party and the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) become locked in a battle to take control of the appointment of the National Assembly speaker. At the moment, the GNP is remaining hostile to the ULD's demand for the lowering of the ceiling on the number of lawmakers necessary to form a parliamentary negotiation group, which is currently set at 20 seats. The conservative ULD managed to secure only 17 seats in the last general elections.

In contrast, the MDP has shown a willingness to cooperate on the ULD's demand, and the ruling party's secretary-general Kim Ok-doo even said that he would take the lead in ensuring that the ULD becomes a floor negotiation group. He stated, "It is desirable to lower the current requirement of 20 National Assembly seats to form a floor negotiation group to less than 15 seats."

In response, ULD secretary-general Kang Chang-hee said that the MDP should, "...build trust not only through talk but through action as well." The statement shows that he has come a long way from the time when he was appointed as the ULD's secretary-general when he had said, "Alignment between DJ and JP will be extremely difficult as long as I am the secretary-general of the ULD."

The ruling party expects a meeting between DJ and JP to take place just before the historical inter-Korean summit. It believes that JP will not miss out on this political opportunity after his falling out with DJ during the general elections. JP's close aides are also recommending that he should meet with President Kim.

A key ruling party official said, "If the ULD fails in its attempt to lower the ceiling on the number of parliamentary seats necessary to form a negotiation group to 15, it could even join hands with other minor opposition parties, such as the Democratic People's Party (which won 2 parliamentary seats) and the New Korea Party for Hope (1 seat)."

by Lee Yang-soo