'THIS IS NOT DEMOCRACY'

Lee & Lee The president's right hands

Reform Why are the Chaebol getting bigger?

LEE HOI CHANG, leader of the Grand National Party and onetime presidential candidate, is a strong critic of President Kim Dae Jung. Lee, a former Supreme Court judge, accuses Kim of human-rights violations, including political surveillance. Lee discussed Kim's first year in office with Asiaweek's Laxmi Nakarmi and a small group of journalists in Seoul. Excerpts:

On democracy

We are taking a big step back. President Kim risked his life for political democracy. The general public hoped that there would be true democracy. But what they have gotten so far is political torture, wiretapping and political surveillance on lawmakers. He poached our lawmakers by threatening them. He either has to accept that these things happened or deny them. The recent parliamentary hearing on the causes of the financial crisis was intended as a political witch-hunt. We did not participate in it because we thought it would be so. I think there is no political competency. This is not democracy.

On Kim's plan to introduce proportional representation in the 2000 National Assembly polls

This is one of the biggest issues we face. President Kim has made election reform a part of his political-reform process. The way it is proposed will be advantageous to the ruling party. We expect a lot of contention since we want to preserve the current system [of one elected member from each constituency].

On the economy

People are saying that the improvement in the economy has not reached them. The huge foreign-exchange reserves are a temporary phenomenon resulting from the collapse of imports, not a rise in exports. The stability in the foreign exchange is because of the inflow of foreign investment. But nearly 60% of our foreign debts are still short-term. There is still danger out there. On business restructuring, I agree we need some sort of big deal. But his reforms won't improve [our] competitiveness.

On human rights

Here he has taken a considerable step back. Torture by the intelligence agency is continuing. In one case, an agent tortured an accused and then followed him to the prosecutor's office to torture him more. Medical doctors confirmed the torture. Sure, the government dismissed the [agent], but senior officials who gave him the order are still there. President Kim is denying this. There are many other cases. How can we think that President Kim is interested in protecting the human rights of his [opponents]?

On social unrest

Last year 1.6 million people were unemployed. The number could rise to 2.3 million this year, or around 10% of the total working population. The two biggest trade unions have said that they will withdraw from the tripartite commission [of government, business and union leaders, set up by Kim in 1998]. This spring could be tough as labor unrest may rise. We don't want to see an end to President Kim's five-year term mid-way through. If we wanted to see that we could use this social unrest as a tactic. But we have no intention whatsoever. When we held rallies recently, for example, we were extra careful not to incite the workers. I am convinced that we should not do anything that would undermine the economy.

On the "sunshine policy" for North Korea

First of all, I want to distinguish between the sunshine and engagement policy. President Kim's is just the sunshine policy. There are only carrots, no sticks. The policies are not practical, and this is making the general public nervous. North Korea has so far shown and used force by test-firing ICBM missiles and sending [submarines]. North Korea has no intention to change. They regard our efforts as a means to topple their regime. The sunshine policy is based on government illusions that North Korea will change. These policies will make North Korea militarily strong, giving the U.S. the balance of power in the Korean peninsula.