WORLD : Foe of Seoul Regime Starts Fast

SEOUL — South Korean opposition leader Kim Dae Jung challenged the government by starting a hunger strike today, a move President Roh Tae Woo said will increase political and social instability.

The 66-year-old Kim, for three decades South Korea’s best known opposition politician, began his fast this morning to regain support for his lagging political program.

Kim demanded the government hold local elections, overhaul the Defense Security Agency and scrap plans to change South Korea’s government from a presidential to a British-style cabinet system.

But analysts and diplomats said South Koreans had become disenchanted with the country’s seemingly endless squabbling, while dazzled by government diplomatic successes and renewed dialogue with North Korea.