2 of 3 Kims to Discuss Conservative Alliance

Kim Jong-pil, honorary president of the United Liberal Democrats, will meet with former President Kim Young-sam at the Federation of Korean Industries building in Yeouido, Seoul on Wednesday, a ULD spokesman said Tuesday. The two are expected to discuss forming a conservative alliance to defeat the ruling Millennium Democratic Party's candidate in next year's presidential election.

The two have a history of joining hands at crucial political moments. In 1990, Kim Young-sam's Reunification Democratic Party and Kim Jong-pil's New Democratic Republican Party merged with then-President Roh Tae-woo's Democratic Justice Party. That three-way merger laid the groundwork for Kim Young-sam's presidential election win in 1992.

The spokesman said Kim Young-sam requested the meeting after lauding his long-time political associate － sometimes foe, sometimes ally － when the United Liberal Democrats sided with the opposition Grand National Party to dismiss former Unification Minister Lim Dong-won.

"JP has done a great deed that will live on in history," Kim Young-sam said, referring to Kim Jong-pil by his initials.

A United Liberal Democrats insider said that the meeting between the senior political bosses would boost morale within his party. "Meeting with Kim Young-sam will be an opportunity for our party, which has shot to the bottom since the breakdown of the coalition with the Millennium Democratic Party," the official said.

For the former president, whose legacy was tarnished by the financial crisis that hit the nation at the end of his term in 1997, the meeting may well provide a chance for a political comeback before the race for next year's presidential election really heats up, political analysts said.

by Lee Soo-ho