S. Korean Ruling Party Ousts Five Ex-Generals

Admitting that it needs a “new image,” the ruling Democratic Justice Party on Tuesday ousted five former generals from key positions in its first realignment under its new leader, Chairman Roh Tae Woo.

More changes were promised later to “civilianize” the party that President Chun Doo Hwan set up after abolishing all established political parties when he took power in 1980.

The major change involved the appointment of Rep. Chung Suk Mo as secretary general, the party’s third-ranking post. Chung, a Home Affairs Ministry bureaucrat and one-time national police chief, replaced Lee Choon Koo, a former army brigadier general widely regarded as a hard-liner.

When Roh stunned the nation June 29 by announcing proposals for sweeping democratic reforms, Lee was seen biting his lip during Roh’s speech.

Four other former generals whom Chun brought into government also were fired as members of the party’s 27-member Executive Council, theoretically its top decision-making body. Two other council members also were replaced.

Lee Dai Soon, a bureaucrat before entering politics who was replaced Monday as communications minister, was named new floor leader of the party in the National Assembly, while Lee Min Sup, a former journalist, was appointed party spokesman.

“We think it is necessary to change the faces of our leadership to enforce . . . democratic reforms and refresh our image,” said Choi San Jin, deputy party spokesman, who announced the changes.

Last month, Roh, the party’s nominee for president, was entrusted with full leadership of the party by Chun, who resigned Friday as president of the ruling body. Roh, currently the No. 2 man in the party, is expected to be elected to the highest position later this month.

Roh is expected to carry out both organizational and more personnel changes to strengthen the party for the nation’s first direct presidential election in 16 years. The vote is scheduled to be held later this year after constitutional and legal reforms are implemented.

Chung, the party’s incoming secretary general, also called for a new image for the ruling party.

“The Democratic Justice Party must transform itself so that it functions as a trustworthy political party to carry out democratization and national reconciliation,” he said. The party must “absorb the people’s desire for democracy in a humble manner.”

The moves by Roh, himself a former general, to downplay the military element in his party contrasted with a Cabinet reshuffle that Chun carried out Monday, in which he brought two more recently retired former generals into the government while retaining a third. Newly appointed Prime Minister Kim Chung Yul and the eight ministers named in the reshuffle took the oath of office Tuesday and held their first Cabinet meeting.

Prime Minister Kim, a former air force general who retired from active service 20 years ago, appealed in his first news conference Tuesday for the people to “wait with patience” for the government to “carry out sincerely the democratic steps it has promised.”

“Democracy . . . cannot be achieved in one stroke,” he cautioned.

The new home affairs minister, Chung Kwan Yong, said he plans to strengthen election laws requiring that public officials remain neutral in the upcoming balloting for constitutional amendments, a new president and the National Assembly. Present laws, he said, are insufficient to guarantee their neutrality.

‘Impartiality of Police’

“In particular, the impartiality of police in the process of balloting is most important for fair elections,” he said. Police, however, must not “allow excessive permissiveness to develop . . . at this crucial time,” he added.

Suhr Myong Won, the new education minister, pledged to stop issuing instructions to universities ordering disciplinary actions against students who participate in anti-government rallies. Asked about “ideologically indoctrinated radical students,” the former educator said, “I don’t worry much about them.”

“The real problem lies with why students are swayed by Communist ideology. They lack education on genuine democracy,” he declared.

Suhr, however, warned both teachers and students, who spearheaded 18 days of protest last month that forced Chun’s government to pledge a transformation of South Korea into a democracy, to “remember they will lose if they try to obtain everything at once.”

Campus democracy and autonomy should be implemented with “patience and wisdom,” he said.