Opposition Vehemently Denies Reports Of 2 Campaign Plans to Control Press

A ruling party lawmaker has claimed that the principal opposition party has two, not one, blueprint detailing methods of seizing the next presidency.

Rep. Lee Nak-yon of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party made the claim at the main session of the National Assembly.

Another senior ruling party official backed Mr. Lee's allegations, saying that "the additional document is called 'the V50P for Wining the 2002 Presidential Elections.' "

The official said that the additional document was highly sophisticated, having analyzed the political leanings of desk editors at various newspapers, society leaders and opposition party officials.

The minor United Liberal Democrats joined in the attack on the opposition.

"The part (in the documents) about incapacitating our party's honorary chairman Kim Jong-pil is a low strategy," Rep. Byun Ung-jun, the party spokesman said.

The opposition denied the claims, saying that it will file a criminal complaint against Rep. Lee Nak-yon. Opposition leaders asked Rep. Lee Nak-yon to make the "additional documents" public or face criminal litigation.

"Our internal investigation concludes that no such document has been drafted," said Rep. Kwon Chul-hyeon of the opposition party.

The opposition party went claimed that it was a case of reverse political maneuvering engineered by the ruling party.

The controversy over whether the opposition drafted a blueprint to win the 2002 presidency － including a blacklist of members of the press － began Tuesday with an item in The Daily Naeil.

The opposition leader moved quickly to contain possible political fallout, issuing an official apology Wednesday.

Mr. Lee, however, denied that the papers, an eight-page long, 10-point document, was drafted on a party basis. Mr. Lee explained that an employee at the party secretariat drafted the blueprint. The secretariat employee has gone into hiding after giving a verbal resignation.

by Kim Ji-soo