Kim Young-Sam Blasts Kim Dae-jung Administration from Manila

Kim Young-sam, former Korean president currently in Manila, has warned that the resurrected inter-Korean railway may serve a purpose other than facilitating economic exchange for North Korean troops.

"North Korean forces will be able to cross over to the South via the Kyongui Line once it is completed," he said. "The Kim Dae-jung administration has lost its sense of direction in running state affairs." The former president, who is attending the first Asian Leaders Forum, spoke to reporters at his hotel in Manila.

He also called for an investigation into the "unnerving" discovery of hundreds of leaflets scattered around Seoul - purportedly by the North - in the period surrounding North Korean Secretary Kim Yong-sun's visit earlier this month. The leaflets condemned opposition party leader Lee Hoi-chang for his criticism of the rapid rapprochement with the North.

Kim Young-sam also commented on the alleged influence peddled by Culture and Tourism Minister Park Jie-won in the Hanvit Bank illegal loan scandal, saying that he would have fired the minister ten times if he were president.

On the current standoff between the medical sector and the government on medical reform, he said it was "one of the greatest mistakes made by President Kim," and urged that a swift resolution to the problem be achieved.

by Kim Kyo-joon