Roh captures Gangwon vote

CHUNCHEON, Gangwon - Roh Moo-hyun barely edged out Representative Rhee In-je on Sunday in the Millennium Democratic Party's Gangwon province primary. Mr. Rho took 630 votes to Mr. Rhee's 623. Kim Joong-kwon, a senior party adviser, was third with 159 votes and Representative Chung Dong-young placed last with 71 votes.

But Mr. Rhee still leads the overall primary race with 3,834 votes to Mr. Roh's 2,144. Mr. Kim is a distant third with 920 votes, and Mr. Chung is last with 393.

Mr. Rhee ran away with Saturday's primary in Cheonan, South Chungcheong province, taking 1,432 votes to just 277 for Mr. Roh.

About 16 percent of the 70,000 voters participating in the governing party's nationwide primary have now voted.

In a speech prior to Sunday's vote, Mr. Rhee called for a proven candidate to be chosen as the party's presidential candidate. "There is plenty of time before the presidential election. We need a proven candidate with qualifications, talent and vision," he said.

On Saturday in Cheonan, Mr. Rhee implied in his pre-vote speech that Mr. Roh has used President Kim Dae-jung's influence to help him win votes in the primary. Mr. Rhee's aides have accused Mr. Roh of making behind-the-scenes political deals on various occasions before.

Mr. Rhee did not repeat the accusations on Sunday, however. Instead, one of Mr. Rhee's aides said that they would decide how to handle the matter according to how things go with the party's response and the results of the primaries.

On Sunday Mr. Roh responded to Mr. Rhee's accusations, saying, "It would be questionable even for the Grand National Party to spread such conspiracy theories. How could a member of our own party come up with such accusations?"

"Should [Mr. Rhee] have an ulterior motive, the public would never forgive him twice," Mr. Roh said, referring to Mr. Rhee's 1997 bid for the presidency. After losing his former party's nomination, Mr. Rhee broke away to make it a three-way race.

Mr. Roh then insisted that should he become the presidential candidate the main opposition Grand National Party would not win the election.

Mr. Kim and Mr. Chung both said in their speeches that Mr. Roh's statements about reforming the party should he win the nomination were counterproductive. They also said Mr. Rhee's threats to ignore the outcome of the primary only served to undermine the public support the party has worked so hard to win back.

by Kim Chong-hyuk