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U.S. Accepts Roh Victory in South Korea

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Times Staff Writer

The United States on Thursday cast aside challenges to the validity of South Korea’s presidential elections, quickly serving notice that it considers ruling party candidate Roh Tae Woo to be the legitimate victor in Wednesday’s voting.

State Department spokesman Charles Redman told reporters that Roh “appears to be the winner by a substantial margin.” He urged reconciliation among the competing parties and factions in South Korea.

“We congratulate Mr. Roh on his victory and look forward to working with him,” Redman said.

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The department’s comments appeared aimed at minimizing any prolonged dispute over vote fraud that might lead to a renewal of demonstrations or violence in South Korea. It was a series of nationwide street protests last June that forced the South Korean regime to give way to calls for direct elections for the presidency.

Although official results showed that Roh won the election by a surprising margin of nearly 2 million votes, supporters of opposition candidates Kim Dae Jung and Kim Young Sam charged afterward that there were widespread irregularities in the voting. On Thursday, Kim Young Sam called upon the South Korean people to “rise up.”

The State Department made clear that it does not think the allegations of vote fraud are substantial enough to call into question the legitimacy of the election. Redman merely said that the United States has “noted” the charges of vote fraud but could not corroborate them or make any independent judgment on the allegations.

“These are matters which must be dealt with by the Korean people, by peaceful means and as fairly and quickly as possible,” he said.

Throughout the last few months, U.S. officials repeatedly had proclaimed their neutrality in the South Korean election. However, when Roh visited Washington last September, President Reagan received him at the White House, and pictures of their meeting were distributed widely by Roh’s supporters during his campaign.

On Capitol Hill, few legislators were willing Thursday to go so far as the Reagan Administration in proclaiming Roh the winner. Nevertheless, the aides to several legislators said privately that they believe that Roh’s victory margin is large enough to withstand any disputes over vote-stealing.

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Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, issued a carefully qualified statement that seemed to lean toward accepting the validity of the election results.

“In the absence of credible evidence of systematic fraud, the election of Roh . . . would appear to represent the outcome of a relatively free and fair electoral process,” Solarz said. “ . . . If yesterday’s election was essentially fair, and if its outcome represents the freely expressed will of the South Korean people, then the results will deserve the support of both the South Korean people and the United States.”

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