New opposition leader reverses stance on reviving cash counsel

Chairman Choe Byung-yul of the opposition Grand National Party yesterday said that he is willing to compromise with the governing party and the administration on a second independent counsel bill to address the cash-for-summit scandal.
“My comment yesterday that our party will push through the second bill was made before I heard that President Roh Moo-hyun was willing to accept a limited independent counsel bill to inquire about the 15 billion won ($12.5 million),” Mr. Choe told the JoongAng Ilbo yesterday.
“From now on, our party’s first priority is to pass public welfare bills. A new independent counsel bill is a political bill,” Mr. Choe said. In addition to his expression of willingness to compromise, the new opposition leader added that “our party will not abandon the National Assembly and take issues to the street in any case.”
But at the same time, Mr. Choe, a three-time cabinet minister under the Roh Tae-woo administration and former Seoul mayor under former President Kim Young-sam, said, “We will waste no time in moving to oust cabinet members who go averse to the policies of reviving the economy.”
The new chairman, at Thursday’s inaugural ceremony, had called strongly on President Roh to accept the opposition-drafted independent counsel bill that would look into both the 15 billion won of alleged bribes and parts of the cash-for-summit scandal the party believed the Song Doo-hwan independent counsel team had failed to comb thoroughly. The Song Doo-hwan team tentatively concluded that Park Jie-won, former culture minister and No.2 man in the Kim Dae-jung administration, received 15 billion won in bribes.
Mr. Choe, who will stake his party leadership on a win at the April 2004 National Assembly election, said that the Grand Nationals should no longer expect their traditional constituency in the southeastern Gyeongsang provinces to vote en masse for the conservative party.
“That is an outdated story. We expect a difficult race ahead as President Roh is looking to create a new political party with the Gyeongsang province people,” Mr. Choe said.
Attempting to shake off the party’s old-guard image, Mr. Choe said, “We will establish a system where political freshmen can compete equally with veteran politicians in the bid to win nominations.”

by Chun Young-gi