By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter


Discord between President Roh Moo-hyun and the ruling Uri Party seems to have taken another twist with a the reemergence of the question, ``Will he desert the party in the end?’’ But more pertinently the question appears to be ``when,’’ sources at the ruling camp said.

Officials at both the party and the presidential office Thursday got entangled in the hullabaloo about the possibility of Roh’s departure from the party, a thorny issue pertaining to the relations between the two sides.

It was during Wednesday’s dinner meeting between Roh and the party’s interim leaders at Chong Wa Dae that Roh disclosed his ``past thoughts’’ about secession, according to presidential spokesman Kim Man-soo.

``Roh told party leaders that he had thought about giving up his party membership last year since he was at that time said to be having a negative effect on the party’s approval ratings. But it is a matter of the past,’’ the spokesman told reporters as Roh’s remarks created a fresh stir.

Roh made a surprise proposal last summer that the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) form a coalition government with the governing party in return for agreeing to overhaul the electoral system in order to root out the regionalism-based politics ruinous to the country.

But his offer was not only flatly rejected by the conservative party, often said to be the main beneficiary of regionalism, but was also given the cold-shoulder by the ruling party. The ruling party’s popularity subsequently nose-dived along with Roh’s.

The presidential spokesman said in a press briefing after the dinner the previous evening that Roh and Uri Party leaders decided to set up a taskforce to think up a desirable model for relations between the party and the presidential office.

But most news media paid more attention to the real intention of Roh’s comments, his possible break from the party as some lawmakers who attended the two-and-a-half-hour meeting expressed their embarrassment to reporters.

Since the country made a landmark achievement in its pro-democracy movement in 1987, Roh’s predecessors _ Roh Tae-woo, Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, have all faced a time when they were forced to quit and leave their own parties.

But the time of secession came only in the final months of their tenure at a time of poor leadership. Kim Young-sam, for example, quit his party in November 1997, one month before the presidential election and about four months before the end of his tenure.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Roh described the discord between the president and the party as an irreversible trend of South Korean politics in the era of post-democratization.

``The (ruling) party often expressed dissatisfaction and made harsh criticism and offensives (at the president) over pending issues during previous administrations as well,’’ he said. ``I accept this as the general current of our politics.’’

Now set to mark the beginning of the fourth year in his five-year tenure, Roh has often unveiled his agony as a single-term head of state to dwell on a mid- and long-term strategy of the nation rather than short-sighted interests of the party, for example a election victores.

He sometimes extolled his efforts to democratize the past ``imperial’’ power of the president as one of his biggest achievements in office. But in the meeting he appeared to be aiming more for ``mutual respect’’ between the party and the president.

Chong Wa Dae officials said the discord was more or less patched up now as Roh and the party agreed in the meeting to find a more desirable relationship in coming days. But political experts say his secession is a matter of time.

Some lawmakers of the party believe it could come earlier than expected, possibly after the local elections on May 31. ``If a break-up is inevitable, the party had better prepare for it in advance so it will not be ugly,’’ a first-term legislator said on condition of anonymity.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr