Roh Suffers Stunning Loss in S. Korea Assembly Vote

Handing South Korea’s new president, Roh Tae Woo, a stunning defeat, three opposition parties parlayed the strength of regional loyalties to favorite sons to win a crucial National Assembly election that they had charged in advance was rigged against them, incomplete voting results showed today.

It was the first time in South Korea’s 40 years that the party of an incumbent leader had failed to win control of the legislature.

The effect will be to force Roh’s party to bargain with the opposition to pass its major legislation. And the government may be harassed by the assembly, using its new power of investigation.

The 74.6% turnout, unusually low for South Korea, indicated widespread voter disillusionment. In the last assembly election three years ago, the turnout was 84.6%, and in last December’s presidential election it was 89.2%.

Tuesday’s voting defied nearly all forecasts.

Roh’s Democratic Justice Party had been expected to easily win a majority in the 299-seat unicameral legislature. The ruling party enjoys the powers of incumbency, including control of central government machinery extending down into the smallest villages, whose leaders are appointed by the president, and the party was aided by a split opposition.

Yet, with only one race undecided, Roh’s party had won 85 seats in local districts. Including its apportionment of another 38 seats from a national constituency, its total came to 123, or 41%--27 short of a majority, the government-controlled Korea Broadcasting System (KBS) reported.

The ruling party was polling only 33.6% of the votes, or less than the 36.6% plurality by which Roh won the presidency last Dec. 16.

In the local elections, KBS said the party of often-jailed Kim Dae Jung, the Party for Peace and Democracy, won 57 seats, while longtime opposition leader Kim Young Sam’s Reunification Democratic Party got 45 seats.

The New Democratic Republican Party, led by Kim Jong Pil, a strongman of the 1961-79 era of the late President Park Chung Hee, won 27 seats, KBS said.

Nine independent and minor party candidates were elected, the national TV network reported.

Including seats apportioned to each of the parties, the new lineup gave Kim Dae Jung’s party a total of 73 seats, or 24%; Kim Yong Sam’s followers 58 seats, or 19%, and Kim Jong Pil’s party 35 seats, or 12%.

Roh Sees ‘Many Problems’

In a statement, Roh said the election left “many problems for the people to ponder deeply. I will humbly accept the result of the election and try my best to reflect the result in my national policy.”

The ruling party’s failure to win a majority, he added, “may present difficulties.”

“However, depending on how we deal with them, it may even provide a opportunity to demonstrate our great potential to the world,” Roh said.

The three opposition groups have been so hostile toward each other that analysts foresaw little chance of their forming an anti-government alliance.

One Western diplomat noted before Tuesday’s vote that the ruling party probably would be able to add at least 10 seats to its assembly strength by deals with opposition winners if it failed to gain a majority.

A coalition or cooperation accord with the conservative Kim Jong Pil and his party also is a possibility. Kim, however, has been bitterly critical of both Roh and former President Chun Doo Hwan, who purged him in 1980.

‘Building a New Beginning’

“We’ve got to think about building a base for a new beginning. This will be a success if we can organize effectively in the assembly,” said Kim Jong Pil, smiling and drinking beer with cheering supporters as early returns came in.

“We’re also looking four years into the future,” he added.

The newly elected representatives will serve until 1992.

Under a new constitution implemented last fall, the assembly has the power to investigate government activities. It also can no longer be dissolved by the president.

Last December, the three Kims split 63% of the popular vote, handing the presidency to Roh, a former general who was handpicked by the highly unpopular, authoritarian Chun. The opposition has charged that the presidential election was rigged.

Rally Planned

This time, too, even before vote counting began, the opposition said it had no intention of accepting the results. The Reunification Democratic Party and the Party for Peace and Democracy joined dissident groups in announcing plans to stage a rally in Seoul this afternoon to protest what they charged was a rigged election.

As the vote counting progressed, however, the opposition changed its tune.

An exuberant mood swept through the headquarters of the Party for Peace and Democracy late Tuesday.

“The voters have supported us because our party has maintained a clear and consistent attitude in opposing the government,” said a raspy-voiced Kim Dae Jung. “The people understand this.”

He described the election results as a triumph of popular will over the overwhelming influence of Roh’s government.

‘Strong Enough to Resist’

“The government has mobilized all its power to support ruling party candidates, distributing huge sums of money,” he said. “But the people have been strong enough to resist.”

Kim Dae Jung added that he believes the opposition can work smoothly with the conservative president.

“If Roh Tae Woo practices genuine democracy, we are ready to cooperate with him,” he said.

Kim Dae Jung said he will continue to press demands that the government release all political prisoners--estimated to number between 300 and 400 after an amnesty in February--and hold elections for mayors and other local officials.

The results breathed new life into the political fortune of Kim Dae Jung, who finished third in December and is anathema to South Korean military leaders. Kim’s party had only 23 seats in the previous assembly but was assured of more seats than opposition rivals in the new one.

Drama Began Last June

The election constituted the final act in a political drama that began last June when 18 days of street protests forced Chun to accede to demands for democratic reforms and a direct presidential election instead of rubber stamping his successor in an electoral college. And it left the political future deeply clouded.

Ruling party leaders had warned voters that there would be chaos and the smooth staging of the Sept. 17-Oct. 2 Summer Olympics in Seoul would be threatened if the opposition won a combined majority in the assembly. Voters, however, appeared to have responded to opposition calls to stop the Democratic Justice Party from achieving “a one-party dictatorship” in the hope of forcing Roh to implement promised democratic reforms.

The ruling party may have been hurt by a major scandal involving Chun’s younger brother, who was arrested and indicted on embezzlement, tax evasion and bribery charges. Many political analysts, however, said the jailing of Chun Kyung Hwan, who headed the government-supported Saemaul (New Community) Movement under his elder brother, had helped Roh distance himself from his authoritarian mentor.

Kim Dae Jung’s party swept his native Cholla region in the southwest, winning all of the 37 seats in two provinces as well as the city of Kwangju, site of demonstrations against a 1980 coup that army brutality transformed into a rebellion in which at least 194 people were killed. The party’s vote total was big enough to ensure a seat for Kim Dae Jung, who was ranked 11th on the party’s list of national constituency candidates.

Elected Easily

In Pusan, Kim Young Sam, a favorite son, was elected easily, and his party won 14 of the 15 seats at stake.

Kim Jong Pil’s party won 13 of 17 seats in his native Chungchongnam province.

Roh’s party scored best in the former general’s native Taegu and the surrounding Kyongsang area and in Kyonggi province surrounding Seoul.

At polling places in Seoul, voters expressed resentment about campaign corruption and skepticism about the progress of democratic reform.

“We have democracy in the sense that we have the right to select a candidate and vote,” said Park Ki Hyung, a 37-year-old merchant voting in the working-class neighborhood of Shillim. “But the campaign was not democratic at all. It was corrupt and disorderly.”

Candidate Seemed ‘Untainted’

A 44-year-old gardener said he cast his ballot for the ruling party candidate because he seemed “fresh and untainted,” but he added that South Korea’s new democracy is far from perfect.

“This election is not a big step forward,” he said, “but there’s a little progress.”

In the affluent Seoul district of Pangbae, Choi Han, a 53-year-old businessman, said he voted for an independent candidate partly because he wanted to see “balance” in the new assembly.

“I guess I’m still skeptical about the process of democracy. Everything is rather confused right now,” Choi said. “Maybe things will settle down in the near future, but we need balance no matter who controls the government.”