Roh delays ouster decision

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Roh delays ouster decision

President Roh Moo-hyun said yesterday that he has no immediate plans to dismiss Kim Doo-gwan, the minister of government administration and home affairs, as recommended by the National Assembly last Wednesday.
“He was an exemplary county magistrate, and he is an industrious and principled person. I wanted his appointment to his current post to be a message of hope to ordinary people that even if they do not have great school ties, they can still be successful,” Mr. Roh told reporters.
Regarding the National Assembly’s motion to oust Mr. Kim, Mr. Roh reiterated, “It is really unjust and is not legally binding,” adding that his decision on Mr. Kim’s future would come after the National Assembly oversight hearings conclude. The Assembly begins those hearings on government agencies’ operations from Sept. 22 to Oct. 11.
“That is the politics of obstinacy,” said Hong Sa-duk, floor leader of the opposition Grand National Party, who took Mr. Roh’s words as a rejection of the motion to oust Mr. Kim and threatened a partisan fight.
Mr. Roh said, “If I dismiss Minister Kim now, it will lead other cabinet ministers to be sensitive to what the Grand National Party does and will interfere with their execution of this administration’s agenda.”
He said a large majority of scholars think the Assembly vote is not binding and that the approval of the motion last Wednesday was unjust on the part of the Grand National Party, which has a majority in the legislature.
“Chairman Choe Byung-yul of the opposition party was subtly intimidating me when he said that any attempt I might make to reject the motion carried the possibility that I was violating the constitution,” Mr. Roh said. At a Thursday dinner meeting, the opposition leader reportedly asked the president to heed Mr. Choe’s interpretation of the constitution, adding that the president was obliged to accept the Assembly’s motion to oust Mr. Kim. Mr. Roh reportedly answered that the matter could be referred to the constitutional court. But Article 63 of the constitution speaks only of a “recommendation” by the Assembly to dismiss a minister.


by Choi Hoon
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