Politicians rally, rant and decry retraction

The Millennium Democratic Party and the Grand National Party were at war again Thursday after an MDP legislator's statement that the prosecution had asked him to politicize the alleged draft-dodging of the GNP presidential candidate's son. Representative Lee Hai-chan had stirred up the row by saying and then denying Wednesday that a senior prosecutor asked him to raise specific allegations about the case in the Assembly.

"It became clear that the alleged draft-dodging scandal surrounding Mr. Lee's son was carefully plotted political maneuvering," the GNP thundered. The majority party in the Assembly demanded President Kim Dae-jung's apology and punishment for those involved in the "plot."

The prosecution announced personnel changes Thursday, but Park Young-kwan of the Seoul District Prosecutors Office, the prosecutor heading the investigation and the man Mr. Lee at first said approached him, kept his post. That added fuel to the GNP's fire; it wanted him replaced. Seventy GNP legislators picketed the prosecutors' office to complain.

The party now says it wants Justice Minister Kim Jung-kil fired, and will propose his dismissal in the Assembly. The MDP said its rivals were trying to thwart the prosecutors' investigation.

"The whole point of the investigation is to lay bare the allegations about Lee Hoi-chang's son," complained Hahn Hwa-kap, the MDP chairman. Representative Lee stood by his retraction of his remarks Wednesday. He refused to say, though, whether he had received any request from any prosecutor to ask the detailed questions that he outlined to reporters in his original comments.

Despite his retraction, his fellow Millennium Democrats also threw a verbal barrage of criticism at him Thursday for his original comments.

And the Blue House said it was not a nest of plots. "The Grand National Party repeatedly says the Blue House is behind a lot of things," said Park Sun-sook, the presidential spokeswoman. "If so, we want to see tangible evidence."

by Kim Gyo-joon