Two Mavericks Cross Aisle, Join With Opposition Party

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Two Mavericks Cross Aisle, Join With Opposition Party

Two maverick legislators will announce Friday that they are joining the Grand National Party, bringing the opposition's strength in the National Assembly just shy of a majority.

The new recruits are Representative Kim Yong-hwan, the sole lawmaker of the Korea New Party, and Representative Kang Chang-hee, an independent.

The Grand National Party will now control 133 seats in the 270-seat Assembly. The governing Millennium Democrats hold 118 seats and their former coalition allies, the United Liberal Democrats, have 15. Two seats are held by the Democratic People's Party, and Prime Minister Lee Han-dong and Representative Chung Mong-joon are unaffiliated.

Mr. Kim, Mr. Kang and the opposition leader, Lee Hoi-chang, met Oct. 12 and agreed to cooperate to end the rule of the "Three Kims" and to achieve a change of government in next year's presidential elections.

"We should no longer tolerate a government formed under the influence of the 'Three Kims'," Kim Yong-hwan said in a telephone interview. Mr. Kang echoed, "We decided to aid Mr. Lee Hoi-chang to the fullest of our ability."

The United Liberal Democrats president, Kim Jong-pil, and former President Kim Young-sam met recently to discuss a possible power merger. They, together with President Kim Dae-jung, constitute "Three Kims."

The two legislators are both former United Liberal Democrats and natives of the Chungcheong provinces. Their aisle-crossing is likely to accelerate the pace of political realignment in the run-up to June local elections and December presidential elections next year. Mr. Kim's electoral district is in Boryeong-Seocheon, South Chungcheong province, and Mr. Kang's is in Daejeon.

Their move may nudge the "two Kims" to speed the creation of their own party. Since the collapse in early September of the ruling coalition, Kim Jong-pil and Kim Young-sam have been in talks to forge a political force to challenge both large parties, the Millennium Democrats and the Grand Nationals.

Opposition sources also claim that some current United Liberal Democrats will defect to them soon.

A spokesman for the Millennium Democratic Party, Jeon Yong-hak, said the two lawmakers' recruitment was a "betrayal and an indecent marriage made to extend their political lives."

Under the current law, a political party must secure 20 seats in the National Assembly to qualify as a negotiating group.



by Chun Young-gi

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