9 legislators stampede from MDP

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9 legislators stampede from MDP

Dissident Millennium Democratic Party members and Representative Chung Mong-joon struck an agreement Wednesday to organize a new political party, according to a party official opposed to the candidacy of the party standard-bearer, Roh Moo-hyun. Choi Myung-hun and Kim Won-gil, leading members of the anti-Roh faction, secretly met Mr. Chung to negotiate the deal, he said. The dissident Millennium Democrats were said likely to join Mr. Chung at the end of October when he formally launches his new party, National Unity 21.

Representative Choi had met separately Tuesday with Cho Boo-young, the deputy speaker of the Assembly and a member of the conservative United Liberal Democrats. He also met Lee Han-dong, a former prime minister who recently announced a presidential bid. They reportedly agreed to join the new party backed by the dissident Millennium Democrats and Mr. Chung.

The mass migration of politicians in search for greener pastures has apparently begun. Nine other MDP lawmakers formally announced Wednesday that they planned to leave the party.

"We agreed to continue our efforts to name a single candidate backed by a coalition of dissident MDP members and other parties," Representative Lee Hee-kyu said. He is one of the nine looking for a better candidate to back. "To do so, we decided to organize a bargaining group in the National Assembly." Mr. Lee said the nine lawmakers, all from Gyeonggi province, are still planning the timing of their departure. They also are trying to spur other legislators to join them; if they can organize a group of 20, they can form a bargaining group in the Assembly and get government funding.

One of the group, Park Chong-woo, said obscurely that the defectors from the party would not rule out some sort of alliance with Mr. Roh, the man they were running away from. He added that the group would not join Mr. Chung's camp immediately and said with no obscurity whatsoever, "The popularity polls will greatly affect our choice."

But those polls now show Mr. Chung as a very competitive candidate, especially in Seoul and Gyeonggi province, and some in the group are said to be scrambling for a position near him.

Shin Ki-nam, one of Mr. Roh's aides, blasted the defectors as opportunists, but another said, "It is useless to try to dissuade them."

Mr. Chung's new party is expected to name him as its presidential candidate on Oct. 30. Yoo Chang-soon, a former prime minister, was named head of the party's organizing body.

by Seo Seung-wook, Choi Hoon

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