President Says Coalition Is Legal, Justifiable and Common Political Act


By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter



President Roh Moo-hyun, center, answers questions during a meeting with managing editors of newspapers and broadcasting networks at Chong Wa Dae, Thursday. Korea Times


President Roh Moo-hyun said yesterday he is willing to turn over presidential power if it help normalize politics in Korea and mitigate the lingering regional animosity.
``I am ready to abandon my presidential power to address the systemic problems of our politics,’’ Roh said in a meeting at Chong Wa Dae with a group of managing editors of news organizations based in Seoul.

The president reaffirmed his election pledge to try to find solutions to the decades-old regionalism that still prevails in the nation’s politics.

He strongly indicated that his administration is ready to form a coalition with one or two minor opposition parties _ the Democratic Labor Party and the Democratic Party _ to overcome the current minority status of the pro-government Uri Party. But he has not openly specified which party his administration is to form a coalition.

``At this stage, I can definitely say that forming a coalition is a legal, justifiable and universal political act (to stabilize the management of state affairs),’’ Roh said. He said he does not agree with the view that a coalition government is a byproduct of secret collusion between political parties.

He made it clear that the minority status of the ruling Uri Party would not last long, indicating his confidence that the Uri Party would form a coalition with one or two minor opposition parties to retain the majority status at the National Assembly.

``If our potential coalition partners ask me to share power with me, I am ready to turn over more than half of the presidential power to them as long as it serves to normalize the political culture and system in Korea,’’ Roh said.

But he said if the opposition partners do not want a coalition with the ruling Uri Party, it is also OK. But what must be emphasized here is that any type of sharing power through coalition is not illegal.

The president also stressed strong alliance with the United States. The future of the Zaytun Unit in Iraq will be made in the context of the Korea-U.S. alliance. ``But the alliance should be promoted on the basis of more balanced relations. He said Seoul will need to regain the military command control from the U.S. Forces in Korea. Korea needs to reduce its reliance on the United States for national security, he added.

He said North Korea’s nuclear problem should be solved under the two premises. One is that North Korea would scrap or do not use nuclear weapons. The other is that the United States would not use military force to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons, the president said.

Roh said he is ready to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il but emphasized that the meeting itself is not so important as long as the two would not be able to solve the nuclear issues through the meeting. It is also a good idea to solve the nuclear issues without ``my meeting with Kim Jong-il,’’ he said.

He said he is ready to meet with the North Korean leader ``at any time and any place,’’ although he did not see any imminent ``good signs’’ for another inter-Korean summit.

As to what the important proposal Seoul has proposed to North Korea in return for Pyongyang’s scrapping nuclear weapons, he said, ``At this stage, it is difficult to make public the contents of the proposal as we are in negotiation with North Korea and in consultation with the United States and other participants to the six-party talks.

``But the contents of the proposal will be convincing even to the opposition parties, he said. In due time, the contents will be made public,’’ he added.

The president wants to see the formation of EU-like peaceful community in Northeast Asia through cooperation.

Roh stressed the need to bolster mutual trust and get rid of any obstacles to inter-Korean rapprochement.

``At the moment, the most important thing is reducing the possibility of military conflicts in the West Sea,’’ he said.