S. Korean Voters Deliver a Rebuke to Ruling Party

In landmark elections billed as the nation’s cleanest in history, South Korean voters today appeared to be inflicting a stinging defeat on the ruling Democratic Liberal Party in returns that could force President Kim Young Sam into a sweeping political reorganization.

Partial returns in the first local elections in more than three decades indicated that Kim’s party was winning in only five of 15 major races--and had lost the critical post of Seoul mayor.

Cho Soon, the opposition Democratic Party candidate, scored an upset victory in the fiercely contested race for what is often called Korea’s “mini-president”--the Seoul mayor presides over one-quarter of the nation’s 41 million people.

The victory by Cho, a former vice premier and economic specialist, positions the opposition party to launch a powerful challenge in National Assembly races next year and the presidential balloting the following year.

Cho’s victory also paves the way for the triumphant return of Kim Dae Jung, the longtime opposition firebrand who survived a death sentence to run for president but retired from politics after losing his third bid in 1992.

Despite South Korea’s booming economy and a range of milestone democratic reforms, Kim Young Sam has rapidly lost popularity in recent months, with his approval ratings plunging from more than 90% to less than 50%. Critics say he lacks follow-through, has badly stumbled on foreign affairs and is a vindictive man who harasses those who dare to cross him.

“We will humbly accept the people’s determination and reflect their opinion in ruling the country,” the DLP said in a statement early today.

Yet even critics acknowledge Kim’s role in bringing South Korea’s democracy to fuller bloom with Tuesday’s elections--the first ever in which there were virtually no charges that the government had tried to tamper with results, distribute secret campaign funds or mobilize civil servants for favored candidates.

A strict new law reduced campaign spending and vastly stiffened penalties for electoral violations; authorities have so far arrested 170 people for “smearing” rivals with false rumors and are investigating more than 800 other cases. The nation’s 150,000 police officers were placed on alert, but no major incidents were reported.

“Compared to past elections, the campaigning was relatively clean, and the civil service stood on the neutral line,” said Cho Chang Hyun, a Hanyang University political science professor.

The elections for more than 5,600 governors, mayors and council members also marked a major step in restoring local independence to a people long in the vise of central bureaucratic rule.

Ever since the late President Park Chung Hee suspended local autonomy in 1961 after seizing power in a military coup, local officials have been appointed by the central government and denied the most basic authority, such as power to tax and apportion budgets.

The advent of local independence is expected to have a far-reaching impact on everything from the nation’s political culture, by nurturing more leaders, to its economic development.

Businesses are already beginning to position themselves for an anticipated boom in regional development projects--although they also fear a doubling of red tape and increased local taxes.

“I have repeatedly said local autonomy is grass-roots democracy, and I am full of joy and pride to be reinstating the system,” Kim said after he and his wife voted at a Seoul polling booth.

Under cloudy skies, 68.4% of South Korea’s 31 million eligible voters turned out--a lower showing than in the National Assembly and presidential contests.

Analysts said many people were confused by more than 15,400 candidates running in four simultaneous races; others took advantage of the national holiday and skipped town. Resorts around the scenic area of Mt. Sorak reported crowds 40% greater than usual, mostly young people.

But at the Ah Yon precinct in Seoul, twentysomethings Kim Tae Wan and Lee Chee Yoon said they took the time to vote to register their desire for fresh political faces, an end to corruption and the decentralization of government. The married couple voted for independent Park Chan Jong in the Seoul mayoral race, saying they hoped for the same upset that brought an outsider to victory in the Tokyo gubernatorial race this year.

Kim’s weak showing may lead to a drastic redrawing of South Korea’s political landscape.

His two archrivals, opposition leader Kim Dae Jung and Kim Jong Pil--a former ruling party official who was booted out of the Kim government earlier this year--may agree to align and push for a system that would give them a better shot at winning power than the current winner-take-all presidential system.

Although the president had called for an end to the “three Kim era” and a generational changing of the guard, voters appeared to reject that plea.

Instead, they appeared to be endorsing a balance of power among South Korea’s major regions represented by the three Kims--a development that would break the traditional stranglehold on political power by the southeastern provinces of Taegu and North and South Kyongsang.

That region, the nation’s most populous, has been the home of the last four presidents.

Its political dominance has contributed to the bitter regionalism that has fractured South Korea for generations.

Yet some analysts predict that the wily Kim, who is keenly attuned to public opinion, may attempt an end run around his rivals by sweeping out remaining hard-liners in his government and bringing in reform-minded Democratic Party politicians in a major reshuffle.

Such a move would not only cement his legacy as a reformist--Kim is barred from a second presidential term--but it would also split the forces of Kim Dae Jung.

“This might be epoch-making in the development of Korean politics,” said Kim Keun Tae, a Democratic Party member.