June Choice of Candidate Seen in Seoul : Ruling Party’s Chief Ahead in Presidential Nomination Contest

President Chun Doo Hwan’s party announced Saturday that within two months it will nominate its presidential candidate, who is widely expected to win under the country’s electoral college system.

“Details of the political timetable will be set soon, but our party plans to nominate a presidential candidate at a national convention in mid-June,” said Roh Tae Woo, chairman of the Democratic Justice Party.

The main opposition party, led by South Korea’s best-known dissidents, Kim Dae Jung and Kim Young Sam, vowed to boycott the election. They charge that the electoral college system favors the government’s party, and have been demanding direct presidential elections.

Roh, 55, a former general and close colleague of Chun, is considered the front-runner for the nomination. But he told a news conference, “The matter will be solved in a democratic way in accordance with the party constitution, upholding the wishes of 1.6 million party members.”

Helped Chun to Power

Chun and Roh are close friends from the Korea Military Academy and worked closely during the turbulent days after the 1979 assassination of President Park Chung Hee. Chun, then an army general, staged a power takeover shortly after the assassination. As he consolidated his position, Roh moved part of an infantry division to support him.

The election system has been hotly debated since Chun agreed a year ago to change by consensus the constitution adopted under martial law in 1980.

But last week, Chun squelched parliamentary debate on changing the system until after the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Chun plans to step down when his seven-year term ends next February.

The 56-year-old president said his successor would be selected by the end of this year through the electoral college of more than 5,000 popularly elected delegates.

Students Denounce Freeze

Saturday, thousands of students denouncing the freeze on constitutional reform and chanting “Down with dictatorship” ran through the streets in a footrace marking the anniversary of a 1960 uprising that led to the fall of the Syngman Rhee government.

Korea University authorities in Seoul said nearly 10,000 students took part in the traditional anniversary race.

Wearing jogging suits and red headbands bearing slogans calling for democracy and unification with North Korea, the students ran from the campus to a cemetery where more than 180 victims of the 1960 uprisings are buried. Thousands of riot police were on duty around the campus and along the 9.7-mile course.

On April 19, 1960, students at the Korea University campus spearheaded a bloody demonstration, triggering popular uprisings nationwide that toppled the autocratic Rhee government. With the anniversary today falling on Sunday, most universities and colleges had advance observances last week. Many of them turned into violent anti-government demonstrations.

Deadlocked on System

The Democratic Justice Party and the opposition had been deadlocked for nearly a year over the form of government the new constitution would establish. Chun’s party advocated a parliamentary form of government, in which the majority party chooses the chief executive. The opposition supported direct elections.

Roh said, “If they (the opposition) fail to take part in the elections, it will not only run counter to the wishes of the people but also deny the very reason for which they stand.”

He said that while debate on the constitutional issue is quieted, his party will push for liberalization, including greater press freedom and the release of “political prisoners.”

Assemblymen Sentenced

But there were no immediate signs of leniency for political dissidents. On Saturday, two opposition National Assemblymen received one-year suspended sentences for inciting anti-government student protests.

The two, Park Chang Jong, 48, and Cho Soon Hyung, 52, were found guilty of encouraging students at Korea University to stage anti-government demonstrations on Sept. 5, 1985.

If the verdict is upheld by the Supreme Court, the lawmakers will automatically lose their seats.

Police on Saturday escorted Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.) through tight police cordons to visit Kim Dae Jung, who is under house arrest and permitted to regularly see only his wife and household employees.

Urges Stronger U.S. Stand

During their two-hour meeting Saturday, Kim, 61, was quoted by his aides as saying that if the United States “really supports Korea’s democratization, it should take a stronger and (more) open attitude.”

Solarz, chairman of the House subcommittee on Asian and Pacific affairs, is in South Korea for talks with leaders of the government and opposition.

Kim, currently under a suspended 20-year jail term on a 1980 sedition conviction, is legally banned from politics, but is considered the power behind the opposition.

Once the opposition’s presidential candidate, Kim has been placed under house arrest 55 times since he returned in February, 1985, from self-exile in the United States.