South Korea The Opposition Gets Its Day

By William R. Doerner

If political shilly-shallying were an Olympic sport, the South Korean electorate would enter this year's Summer Games in Seoul not only with the home-field advantage but with a good shot at the gold medal. Just eleven months ago, widespread protests forced the Democratic Justice Party to accede to election reforms that put its continuation in power at risk. In December, with opposition forces deeply divided, voters kept the incumbent party in office after all, electing Roh Tae Woo, 55, to a five-year term as South Korea's President. Last week the same voters, in a somewhat different mood, presented Roh with a legislature controlled by the opposition.

Roh thus became the first South Korean chief executive to lose majority control over the National Assembly since the country became a republic four decades ago. The Democratic Justice Party won only 125 of the legislature's 299 seats, leaving it 25 votes short of a majority. Clearly shaken by his party's poor showing, Roh declared that he "humbly" accepted the defeat, and tried to find a bright side to it. Said he: "The parliamentary elections, in a sense, will offer an opportunity to advance political maturity in our country." But he acknowledged that "numerous difficulties are expected in the execution of state affairs."

The big winner in last week's voting was Kim Dae Jung, 62, whose Party for Peace and Democracy captured 70 seats, a gain of 48, to become the second largest voting bloc. That showing marked a stunning turnabout in Kim's political fortunes. Because he refused to give up his presidential candidacy and rally support for the more promising Kim Young Sam, the country's other major opposition leader, Kim Dae Jung bore most of the blame for dividing the opposition vote last December, a blot that prompted his resignation as party leader two months ago. Now Kim not only will reclaim his National Assembly seat after an absence of 17 years, but also appears certain to become a key legislative power broker. Kim promised cooperation with Roh but warned that it would come with conditions, starting with the release of some 1,000 political prisoners. "If the government carries out these things, we will support it," said Kim. "We don't want chaos."

Faring less well was Kim Young Sam, 60, whose Reunification Democratic Party added only seven seats to its existing 52. There was speculation that Kim Dae Jung would try to push aside Kim Young Sam and head the two opposition parties, though so far he has merely said he will seek "common ground" with other opposition parties. Meanwhile, a third and more conservative opposition group, Kim Jong Pil's New Democratic Republican Party, won a respectable 35 seats in its first election. Political insiders speculated that President Roh might be tempted to seek an accommodation with that party, which controls just enough votes to give Roh a working majority.

Political analysts chalked up the poor showing of Roh's party to overconfidence and its habit of fielding candidates on the basis of party standing rather than electability. The cloud of uncertainty produced by the election caused panic on the South Korean stock market, which plunged nearly 26 points, to 618.73, its largest one-day drop ever. But many South Koreans seemed pleased at the prospect of at last having a counterbalance to one-party rule. Said Han Sung Joo, a political science professor at Seoul's Korea University: "The government will just have to make the necessary concessions." One thing seemed sure to change. Roh has promised to submit his record to an unspecified form of referendum shortly after the Olympics in September. An Assembly vote, once considered a possible vehicle for such a test of approval, no longer seems likely.

With reporting by K.C. Hwang and Kumiko Makihara/Seoul