Worries Haunt the Opposition: What's the President Up To?

On the surface the opposition Grand National Party is calm about President Kim Dae-jung's resignation from the presidency of the ruling party. But underneath many of them worry that the president is planning to use his new freedom to mount a behind-the-scenes political attack on the opposition leader, Lee Hoi-chang.

"He said he would concentrate on governing the country and I hope that's what's going to happen," said Park Geun-hye, a vice president of the opposition party, referring to the president. But she added no one can deny that the three Kims － the president, Kim Jong-pil, head of the United Liberal Democrats, and former President Kim Young-sam － still wield a lot of influence.

Asked what she thought about the three Kims lending support to particular candidates, Ms. Park said that cooperation would be better than a situation where any of them support one candidate or another.

Kim Yoon-whan, the leader of the minor opposition Democratic People's Party, on Friday reiterated his long-standing prediction that the president's resignation from the formal leadership of the party would prompt a large-scale political realignment and the formation of an anti-Lee Hoi-chang coalition.

An aide to Kim Deog-ryong, another opposition party vice president, said it is too early to tell whether the president will really sever his ties to the governing party and whether the party will change profoundly. Mr. Kim said last week at a fund-raising event that a "new wind" is needed in Korean politics, which led some observers to speculate that certain members of the opposition may be preparing to form a new party.

Lee Bu-young, yet another opposition vice president, said at a recent lecture that the old politics based on regionalism should be replaced with a politics that brings people together.

Yoon Yeo-joon, a close aide to the opposition leader, said that the president may even be thinking of forming a new party in an attempt to take votes away from the opposition.

by Choi Sang-yeon