President set to quit ruling party and will remain independent

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President set to quit ruling party and will remain independent

President Roh Moo-hyun will quit the governing Millennium Democratic Party toward the end of next month, but he will remain unaffiliated with any party through the National Assembly election in April.
The announcement was made by Blue House chief of staff, Moon Hee-sang, yesterday.
Since loyalists to Mr. Roh left the party on Saturday to create their own, political observers have been wondering if and when the president would be joining them.
Mr. Roh was elected to the Blue House on the Millennium Democratic Party ticket last December.
“President Roh is strongly resolved toward political reform and eliminating regionalism from Korean politics,” Mr. Moon said of the president’s decision to quit his party.
“He will not join the new party after he quits membership of the Millennium Democrats to realize the higher goal of restructuring Korean politics.”
The chief of staff said Mr. Roh’s non-affiliation with a political party would send a message to voters urging them to choose representatives based on their policies, rather than on regional loyalties.
Another Blue House official, who requested anonymity, said “The timing of President Roh’s exit from the Millennium Democratic Party will be after the National Assembly’s government agency hearings end on Oct. 22, and before the government and the governing Millennium Democratic Party start discussion on next year’s budget.”
He added that “President Roh wants to avoid the situation where the government will be talking only with the Millennium Democratic Party regarding the budget.”
Mr. Roh has repeatedly said he will not join the new party, tentatively dubbed the People’s Participatory and Unity Party.
The new party holds 43 seats while the Millennium Democratic Party, which retains loyalists to its founder and former President Kim Dae-jung, holds 63.


by Choi Hoon
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