S. Korean Opposition Leader Says Compromise Is Unlikely

Kim Dae Jung, the opposition candidate in South Korea’s last free and open presidential election, said Friday that he sees only dim prospects for compromise in revising this nation’s authoritarian constitution.

Kim, who is not permitted to leave his residence, said in an interview that the government of President Chun Doo Hwan, who is scheduled to step down Feb. 24, 1988, does not have enough confidence in the people to let them choose between a direct presidential election, which the opposition wants, and the parliamentary system that the Chun forces want.

“The government knows its proposal would be defeated” in a referendum, Kim said, and it “knows it cannot win a direct presidential election; it doesn’t even have a candidate.”

But he said the opposition cannot accept a parliamentary system.

Would Be Seen as Traitors

“If we did so,” he said, “we would be considered traitors by the people. . . . We couldn’t win an election if we compromised by accepting a parliamentary system.”

Earlier in the day, Kim had been prevented from taking part in a press conference that he had scheduled along with Kim Young Sam, another opposition leader. The two are the driving forces behind the opposition New Korea Democratic Party.

Kim Dae Jung, who won 46% of the votes in the last direct election for president, in 1971, is forbidden to join any political party or to seek public office. These conditions were imposed when a 20-year jail term for sedition was suspended. Until now, though, he had not been prevented from holding press conferences.

Kim Young Sam, who appeared alone at the press conference, was prevented afterward from visiting the home of Kim Dae Jung. Police and aides of both Kims engaged in a 20-minute scuffle outside.

Despite Kim Dae Jung’s statement about the poor chances for compromise, he and Kim Young Sam issued a joint statement that said “the possibility of democratizing Korea within this year has strengthened.”

Hopes for ‘People’s Power’

In the interview, Kim said he was pinning his hopes on Philippine-style “people’s power”--the sort of popular pressure that helped to drive Ferdinand E. Marcos from power in Manila last year--to force Chun to accept a presidential form of government. But most political analysts see little chance of this.

In their statement, the two Kims said the opposition will permit no violence, no pro-communism and no anti-Americanism. They called on Chun to meet with them to resolve their differences, to let the people decide which system of government they want and to complete revision of the constitution by June. Elections for president and the National Assembly should then be held this fall, they said.

In the interview, Kim predicted that Chun will continue to refuse to meet with him and Kim Young Sam. Instead, he said, Chun may abandon the effort to revise the constitution and choose a successor indirectly under the present system, by means of an electoral college.

“Before that could happen, however, people’s power will be built up,” Kim said. “Chun will be forced to set up a provisional government this year.”

Boycott Threat

Moreover, he said, the New Korea Democratic Party has made it clear that it will boycott any indirect election for president.

“No other opposition party would put up a candidate,” he said. “Could they really carry out such an election?”

Kim said that a recent incident involving the death of a student being interrogated by the police had strengthened the unity of the New Korea Democratic Party. And he said this will make it difficult for Chun to obtain the two-thirds majority needed for National Assembly approval of constitutional amendments.

He said that until the student’s death, on Jan. 14, about 10 members of the opposition party had been leaning toward joining with Chun in voting for a constitutional amendment to set up the parliamentary system. But widespread outrage has drawn the waverers back into line, he said.

Critical of U.S.

Kim Young Sam, at the press conference, criticized the United States for refusing to take sides in South Korea’s political deadlock.

“If the United States maintains neutrality between democracy and dictatorship, it is in fact siding with dictatorship,” he said.

He said that anti-American sentiment is growing in South Korea.