Ruling Party in S. Korea Loses Its Majority

In a stunning repudiation of President Roh Tae Woo, South Korean voters Tuesday deprived the Democratic Liberal Party of a majority in the National Assembly, venting popular discontent over the nation’s shaky economy and feuding politicians.

“We watched the election results with shock and disappointment, but we will humbly accept the people’s will,” Kim Yoon Hwan, secretary general of Roh’s party, said in conceding defeat.

The ruling party fell one seat shy of a majority--a steep decline from the 72% of the seats it gained after merging with two opposition parties in 1990.

However, in post-election horse-trading, Roh’s party is expected to woo enough unaffiliated winners over to its side to secure a bare majority in Parliament.

The protest votes went principally in two directions: Kim Dae Jung, the fiery opposition leader and two-time presidential candidate, led his Democratic Party to an unexpectedly strong showing, securing a third of the seats. And industrialist Chung Ju Yung, founder of the giant Hyundai conglomerate, who rattled the Establishment with his wild-card candidacy, set himself up as a serious new political force.

The election results recast the shape of South Korean politics, opened a crack in the cozy business-government relationship and deepened the uncertainty at the outcome of this year’s presidential race, scheduled for December.

Kim Young Sam, the former opposition leader who joined forces with Roh two years ago and had hoped to succeed him as president, will now have to fight bitterly for his party’s nomination. Meanwhile, Chung is sure to run for president, along with Kim Dae Jung, said Park Ki Jung, political editor of the newspaper Dong-A Ilbo.

The ruling party had vigorously campaigned on the issue of stability, saying it could best steer the nation through rough economic waters and into rapprochement with Communist North Korea. The party had also hoped to win a two-thirds majority in order to push through a constitutional amendment changing to a parliamentary Cabinet system--which tends to perpetuate the ruling party’s power. That possibility is now all but dead.

“The voters supported our platform that a strong opposition is needed to check the giant ruling party,” Kim Dae Jung told reporters.

But Kim Kwang Woong, Seoul National University professor of political science, said Kim Dae Jung’s success was also surprising, because voters were dissatisfied with all incumbents. Some Koreans had come to view Kim as a political anachronism who had once fought bravely for democracy but is now unequipped to handle the complexities of international diplomacy and economic competition.

The professor said it was not clear whether voters were actually choosing Kim Dae Jung’s party or merely rejecting Roh’s.

The Democratic Liberals’ poor showing came despite a relatively low voter turnout, which traditionally has helped the ruling party. Overcast skies and a drizzling rain prevailed as 71.9% of the 29 million eligible voters cast ballots, the lowest turnout for a general election in South Korea’s history. Four years ago, 75.8% of the voters cast ballots.

Roh’s party lost six of its veteran Assembly members, including Kim Young Sam’s right-hand man. Overall, his followers were reduced to only a fifth of the ruling party’s directly elected assemblymen.

Kim Jong Pil announced that he will resign as co-chairman of the ruling party to accept responsibility for a poor showing by his own followers--a gesture seen as designed to put pressure on Kim Young Sam to follow suit.

On the opposition side, six former dissidents, all of whom had been jailed under previous authoritarian governments, won election. Numerous other former street-fighters also were drawn into the political process this time, underscoring the advances in democracy that have occurred under Roh.

Industrialist Chung Ju Yung’s showing was twice as strong as analysts had expected. His newly founded Unification National Party won enough seats to bargain effectively in the Assembly.

The defeat was all the more stunning because the ruling party was cobbled together after Roh’s group failed to gain a majority in the 1988 national elections and asked two of three opposition leaders to join forces two years later. Without consulting their public supporters, both Kim Young Sam and fellow opposition leader Kim Jong Pil agreed to switch sides, fashioning what became the ruling party’s 72% share of Assembly seats.

Voter rejection of this hybrid party, representing three-fourths of South Korea’s political Establishment, reflected a continuing sense of anger and betrayal over the merger, analysts said. Voters were also fed up with factional infighting among ruling party politicians seeking to replace Roh.

The former general is limited by the constitution to a single term and is scheduled to step down next February.

“I take the result as punishment not only for the ruling party but for the existing political structure,” Kim Young Sam said.

Roh’s successes in promoting democracy and international diplomacy were largely ignored in the 17-day campaign.

The election results also demonstrated the degree of anxiety and discontent over the economy, observers said. Roh, who promised to transform South Korea from authoritarian to democratic rule in his 1987 presidential campaign, ironically has been contrasted with his iron-fisted predecessors as a weak president who let prices spiral 10% and trade tumble into a $10-billion deficit last year.

Amid those economic troubles, Chung’s party made its strongest appeal. The millionaire tycoon is seen as a Horatio Alger type who built himself up from poverty to head the nation’s second-largest chaebol, or business conglomerate.

Regional antipathies and loyalties once again dominated the voting. But for the first time, the ruling party won a foothold by capturing two seats in Kim Dae Jung’s native Cholla region in the southwest.

In the southeast Kyongsang region, the home of both Roh and Kim Young Sam, the former opposition-leader-turned-ally, the ruling party won an overwhelming majority.

But in metropolitan Seoul, where 43% of South Koreans live and much of the population is a mix of people from other areas, the ruling party scraped out only 40% of the 82 seats.

Including seats assigned through proportional representation, Roh’s Democratic Liberal Party nailed down 149, or 49.8%, of the Assembly seats; Kim Dae Jung’s Democratic Party won 97 seats--32.4%--and Chung’s Unification National Party gleaned 31 seats, or 10.4%. Unaffiliated candidates won in 22 other races.