President's ailing son sees a politic role in his future

Representative Kim Hong-il of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party, the president's eldest son, said he would like to remain in politics after receiving medical treatment in the United States.

"I will return after a month and a half of medical treatment, after which, if the Donggyo-dong faction members and other party members agree, I will run for the party's presidential nomination," Mr. Kim said Thursday at a press conference at the National Assembly building.

He leaves Sunday for Los Angeles where he is to receive surgery to correct an undisclosed central nervous system disorder, which he says is the result of torture inflicted on him by agents of the military regime of the early 1980s.

Mr. Kim's leave comes at a pivotal time, as his name has been frequently mentioned in financial scandals linking two entrepreneurs accused of wrongdoing － Lee Yong-ho and the Chin Seung-hyun － to a number of politicians and other powerful officials.

The severity of his condition appeared to put him ill at ease during an interview. He was clearly uncomfortable just sitting up in his chair. Part-way through the press conference he half-slumped in his seat, labored to breathe and moved his neck from left to right in obvious discomfort. His speech was also a bit slurred.

He offered a cryptic answer when asked if he was leaving for the United States to take himself － and the accusations that he accepted bribes － out of the picture while the ruling party sorts out its internal issues. "I am also a politician," he said. "Politics is an art and I am one of its practitioners. My father has said that he will not create a new party and he means it. I will follow him in that decision."

Mr. Kim would not say when he thinks the ruling party should hold a convention to select its presidential candidate. The party is mired in turmoil over the convention's timing and scope, which could largely determine a candidate's chances of winning the nomination.

by Kang Min-seok