JP to bid for the presidency a 3d time

Kim Jong-pil, president of the United Liberal Democrats, said Tuesday that he will run for president this December. He repeated an earlier pledge to work for a change to a parliamentary government.

Speaking at the party's New Year meeting in Daejon on Tuesday, Mr. Kim said, "I will compete to open a new future for Koreas by pooling together forces that contributed to modernization, the new conservatives and patriotic youths." The party's power base is in the Chungcheong provinces in the country's midsection.

Mr. Kim ran for president in 1987 and again in 1997 under the banner of the United Liberal Democrats, a party he founded in 1995. Mr. Kim said if he is elected, he will work to have his successor named by the National Assembly that will be elected in 2004. He said he wants to form a new political party, combining his own party with other conservative groups.

"The times call for a new conservative political party which groups together forces whose vision of a nation are strong and who are full of patriotic ardor," Mr. Kim said. Asked to identify what he meant by a "new conservative," Mr. Kim said they are people "who are reared in Korean culture but are aware of international issues and developments and those who can adapt to new changes in the world."

Mr. Kim, joined former President Park Chung Hee in the May 16, 1961 coup that led to Mr. Park's 18-year-long authoritarian rule. Mr. Kim served as the nation's first chief of national intelligence from 1961 to 1963. A native of Buyeo, South Chungcheong province, he has served eight terms in the National Assembly and twice as prime minister, once in the early 1970s and a second time from 1998 to early 2000.

Mr. Kim is noted for his allegorical style which transforms hazy meanings into flowery oratory. He is one of the "three Kims" who have dominated recent Korean political history. The other two, Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, eventually realized their presidential ambitions.

by Kim Jung-ha