President Roh’s Surprise Visit to His Predecessor
It is unusual that a president visit his predecessor, but President Roh made a surprise visit to Kim Dae Jung’s home in Donggyo-dong in Seoul. Much speculation followed in the domestic political arena. President Roh and first lady Kwon first visited the Kim Dae Jung Library and then visited his home. During their meeting, they exchanged views about real estate policy and the North Korean nuclear issue.
Regarding President Roh’s surprising visit, spokesmen from Chung Wa Dae and Donggyo-dong said that it was a simple celebratory lunch to mark the opening of the exhibition hall of the Kim Dae Jung Library. They denied any political issues related with upcoming political realignment of the ruling Uri Party.
However, the major opposition GNP and Democratic Party did not accept the two spokesmen’s statements. The leader of the GNP said, “It is ridiculous that the current and former presidents just talked about real estate policies,” adding, “We consider it a sign of a new line-up for a new party based on regionalism. And we suspect that they discussed dispatching a special envoy to North Korea and a summit talk between the two Koreas.”
A spokesman from the opposition GNP said, “Nobody believes what the two spokesmen said and the meeting itself is political behavior.” A spokesman from the opposition Democratic Party also evaluated the meeting, saying “It is a daunting event for President Roh and a sign to re-attract his previous political supporters, including DJ’s supporters.”
Amid the new political shake up, his visit to the former president is unusual. A few days ago former President Kim Dae Jung criticized breaking up the Democratic Party while visiting his hometown, Mokpo.
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 / 입력시간: 2006. 11.07. 08:12
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