South Korea’s President Struggles to Keep Ruling Party Intact Amid Indictments : Politics: Kim talks chairman out of quitting. Opposition demands arrest of ex-leader Roh’s aides.

Intense political maneuvering erupted in South Korea within hours of former President Roh Tae Woo’s indictment Tuesday on bribery charges.

As President Kim Young Sam tried to head off a major split in his ruling party, critics and supporters of the president traded charges over which politicians may have accepted money from a political slush fund. Meanwhile, five former top military officers were banned from travel overseas.

Political lines were drawn sharply between those who feel prosecutors have been acting too harshly and those who charge that prosecutors were so lenient with key Roh allies that they appeared to be trying to protect Kim from the full implications of the scandal.

Among those indicted with Roh--but not arrested--were seven business tycoons accused of giving him bribes and three former Roh aides.

The business leaders were the chairmen of seven large business conglomerates: Samsung, Daewoo, Dong Ah, Daelim, Dongbu, Jinro and Daeho Construction.

“In order to minimize the economic impact, leniency has been given to businesses whose chairmen are doing a lot of work overseas, or which are doing large-scale projects overseas that if suspended could cause diplomatic problems,” chief investigator Ahn Kang Min said.

Also indicted Tuesday on bribery charges was the chairman of the Hanbo Group, who was arrested in late November. A “suspended indictment” for bribery was announced for the chairman of the Hanyang Group, who is on the run from police. Indictment for bribery against the chairman of Korea Petroleum Development Corp. was also suspended because he is out of the country. The head of Daewoo Corp., a firm within the Daewoo Group, was indicted on money-laundering charges. Another tycoon on the prosecution list of alleged bribe-givers, the head of Chong Woo Construction, has already served a prison term in a case now linked to the Roh slush fund.

The former aides--Roh administration banking official Lee Won Jo, former presidential economic advisor Kim Jong In and legislator Kum Jin Ho, who is a Roh in-law--were accused in Tuesday’s indictments of helping Roh accumulate the $653-million slush fund while in office.

Roh has admitted gathering the funds but has claimed they were donations for political purposes and not bribes. Ahn, the chief investigator, told a news conference that prosecutors have determined that $370 million of the slush fund consisted of bribes.

Opposition parties sharply protested the decision not to arrest and detain the three Roh aides.

Reverberations also continued from the arrest Sunday of former President Chun Doo Hwan on charges of insurrection arising from a mutiny he led in 1979. Roh, a key backer of Chun, may also face charges in connection with the mutiny, which led to Chun’s assumption of the presidency the following year.

Kim Yoon Hwan, chairman of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party, whose background lies with the Chun-Roh wing of the party, tendered his resignation Tuesday. He reportedly told President Kim that he disagreed with the president’s actions against Chun and Roh concerning the events of 1979.

“Even if I resign, I would not quit the party. But I can’t stop others from bolting,” Kim Yoon Hwan told reporters before meeting with the president. He later withdrew his resignation, explaining that the president asked him to stay. Korean media reported that the president had promised him a strong leadership role in the party’s campaign for next year’s National Assembly elections.

The ruling party also announced late Tuesday that it is changing its name, effective today, to the New Korea Party.

Critics of President Kim believe that the former aides of Roh indicted Tuesday may hold the key to proving whether money flowed from Roh’s slush fund to President Kim’s successful 1992 election campaign. The Roh aides also could know other financial secrets that might be damaging to Kim Young Sam.

Park Jie Won, spokesman for the main opposition National Congress for New Politics, charged that the failure to arrest former aides Lee and Kum means prosecutors are trying to prevent the slush-fund probe from spiraling out of control to the point where it would reveal the source of Kim’s campaign funds.

“It goes without doubt,” Park declared, that President Kim had a campaign fund exceeding $1.3 billion in 1992. Park charged that of that sum, Kim Young Sam received $390 million from Roh’s slush fund and that the rest of his campaign funds were raised by Lee and Kum.

The ruling camp, meanwhile, spread word that prosecutors will step up a search for evidence that Roh’s predecessor, former President Chun, accumulated a slush fund that might even have exceeded that raised by Roh.

While there has been speculation that Chun too must have accumulated a slush fund, the increased attention paid to the issue Tuesday appeared to have at least two political purposes: to demoralize or threaten Chun supporters with the prospect of a new slush-fund scandal and to raise allegations that evidence might be found that Kim Dae Jung, head of the main opposition party, accepted Chun slush funds for his 1987 presidential campaign.

The insistence of both Kim Dae Jung and Kim Young Sam on running for president in 1987 split South Korea’s opposition at a critical moment, enabling Roh to become president. It thus is not illogical that the Chun camp, which backed Roh, might have been willing to funnel money to Kim Dae Jung to keep him in the race.

The former military leaders banned Tuesday from leaving the country included former defense ministers Lee Sang Hoon and Lee Jong Koo and former air force chief Han Chu Sok.

The two former defense ministers spent six months in jail in 1993 while facing trial on charges of taking bribes during an $18-billion arms buildup under Roh’s presidency. They received suspended sentences and were then released.

Prosecutors have said they will conduct a fresh probe into what role bribes may have played in purchases for this military buildup.

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