Tour Helped Reform, Kim Dae Jung Says

Opposition leader Kim Dae Jung returned to Seoul on Thursday from a tumultuous three-day southern tour that he said helped ensure that democratization plans will move forward.

“The people have expressed their strong determination that if democratization is not developed smoothly, they will not keep silent,” Kim told reporters accompanying him on the train ride back to Seoul.

Kim said he has not decided whether to seek the presidential nomination of the opposition Reunification Democratic Party or to throw his support behind Kim Young Sam, this country’s other top opposition leader, who is party president.

Kim said he expects to announce his decision sometime in early October, around the time the National Assembly is expected to approve a revised constitution that would provide the framework for a mid-December presidential election.

Doubts Military Intervention

But Kim, 63, who has endured years of imprisonment, political exile and house arrest for his opposition activities, said that if he ran and were elected, he believes the military would accept his victory.

Some South Koreans have expressed fear that a Kim Dae Jung presidential victory might prompt a coup against him.

“I do not think a handful of politically minded military men could go against the will of the people,” Kim told reporters on the train. “Our people are strong enough to prevent that sort of undemocratic plot. And I have some preparation to prevent such an unjust plot. I cannot disclose it now, but I have such preparation.”

2 Kims Plan Political Tour

Kim said that some time in the next few weeks, along with Kim Young Sam, he will make a joint political tour back to Kwangju in his home province, where hundreds of thousands of people welcomed him Tuesday, and to Kim Young Sam’s political base of Pusan. They will also visit other areas together, he said.

The trip will be intended “to create an opposition party boom to prepare for the coming election and also to demonstrate the people’s strong will for democracy, to prevent the government cracking down on moderate dissidents,” Kim said.

Meanwhile, government and company officials reported that 270 companies were still disrupted by strikes Thursday as labor strife continued to taper off. More than 3,000 companies have been affected by strikes and work stoppages since early July, but most of the disputes have been settled with actual or promised wage increases, or agreement to negotiate local issues.

The Daewoo Motor Co., the country’s second-largest exporter of cars, resumed operations Wednesday after a month in which production was interrupted by strikes and parts shortages. South Korea’s largest car maker, Hyundai Motor Co., said its plant at Ulsan had resumed full operations.