S. Korean presidency jinxed by scandals

If you read the history of South Korean presidents during the past 54 years, then one would undoubtedly conclude that whoever occupies the Presidential Palace will certainly leave it with his reputation tarnished by some scandals at some time during their tenure.

Whether such scandals are of a political nature such as rigging elections, abusing power, being tyrannical in ruling the country, violently taking revenge against political opponents or scandals of another type such as bribery, misusing position to amass wealth illegally, etc.

The ultimate result, however, has always been the loss of credibility in the eyes of the people and the emergence of a general feeling that the Presidents of South Korea do not leave their positions except with a tarnished and blackened reputation.

It was hoped that the current President Kim Dae Jung, whose term of office expires next December, would be different and would set an example for his successors. He came to power through free end fair democratic elections.

Moreover, he has a history full of continuous struggle since his youth for the embodiment of democracy, transparency, general freedoms, respect or human rights and such other values that made him get imprisoned frequently and subject to persecution and even to a number of aborted assassination attempts by the Intelligence agents.

In addition to this indisputable history of patriotic activities, Kim Dae Jung enjoys a distinguished history of intelligence, profound knowledge and the ability to acquire the highest academic qualifications to the extent that he was once described as one of the best Asian leaders in terms of extensive education and varied knowledge (his personal library consists of 15,000 books).

During his four years in power that began In 1998, i.e. one year after the collapse of economic conditions in his country as result of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Kim Dae Jung showed outstanding leadership skill and talents that were embodied in his rapid success In furthering the role of democratic institutions, reducing the aspects of chronic fraud, imbalances and mismanagement, and wiping up his country's notorious money politics.

On the foreign level, history will remember him as the first Korean leader to touch upon the thorny issue of relations between the two Koreas by boldly initiating a dialogue with Pyongyang's leaders to promote peace, co-operation, end stability in the Korean Peninsula.

The historic summit meeting between the two Koreas in the middle of June 2000 gave him enormous credit with his winning of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 after having been nominated 11 times without luck.

However, the winds do not always blow as the ships hope for, according to the well-known Arab proverb. This Korean leader who has been confident that he will leave the Korean Blue House with pride and dignity as he entered it, is suffering now from scandals that are neither of his own making nor plotted by his rivals and opponents.

The scandals were caused by his loved ones who damaged, by their greed and selfishness, the bright and unblemished legacy of the President. Last May, Hong Gul, the youngest among the President's three sons, was arrested on charges of peddling influence for $1.2 million in alleged bribes.

Before the President could pull himself together from this shock, he was shocked yet again on learning on July 10 that his second oldest son, Hong Up, was arrested on charges of receiving more than $2 million in bribes and evading taxes on political donations.

Therefore, according to a recent opinion poll concerning the criteria to be applied in the next presidential elections, South Koreans hold the view that their next President should be single or at least should have no children.

This is not surprising as the misconduct of their current President's sons is similar to that of Hyun Chul, the son of the former President Kim Young Sam, who is now serving a prison sentence after having been convicted of influence peddling and tax evasion.

Those who have seen Kim Dae Jung on the TV screens when he was supporting South Korea's national soccer team during the World Cup 2002, must have noticed his sadness and pain.

He seemed most of the time distracted from the match being played on the pitch as though he was pondering what to do after the end of the World Cup when the Koreans shift their attention from their country's partial hosting at the first World Cup in Asia, and from their team's progress to an advanced rounds of the finals for the first time, to local politics.

Indeed, the President was thinking of how to minimise the damages caused to his reputation and how to deal with the conservative opposition's propaganda, knowing that the latter will not show any mercy and will launch a fierce campaign against him.

It is true that Kim Dae Jung has taken the initiative to apologise to his people for the misconduct of his sons and admitted his responsibility, as normally required in a society governed by strict Confucian rules in terms of bringing up the children and the family's responsibility for results of their behaviour, but this was not enough.

Thus, he has decided to give up the presidency of the ruling party, the Millennium Democracy Party which he had founded. President Kim, who is constitutionally unable to seek a second term in office, hoped to remain as the leader of his party so he could actively participate in political life after giving up power.

The purpose of his resignation was to keep the party immure from the effects of the scandal and to protect its name in the hope that it would be able to bring its own candidate to the Blue House.

In this environment, President Kim also embarked upon a major cabinet reshuffle that brought Chang Sang to the post of Prime Minister, hence becoming the first Korean woman to occupy this high position in the country.

This step was interpreted as an intelligent attempt by the President to win the love of Korean women and to mobilise them behind his party in a country where women complain of the male domination over the key holds of power despite their tangible progress and achievements in various fields.

So has the President succeeded by taking such steps in minimising the damage caused by his sons to his legacy, reputation and chances of his party to stay in power?

The answer to this question can be found in the opinion polls the results of which indicate that the candidate of the Millennium Democracy Party, Roh Moo Hyun, is lagging behind the conservative opposition's candidate, Lee Hoi Chang, after having been ahead of him during the months prior to the arrest of the President's sons.

The conservatives have now become more confident of their impending return to power that they held for several decades before being pushed out by Kim Dae Jung in 1998. We can also find the answer in reports saying that President Kim has been deserted not only by those conservative politicians who shifted their loyalty to him in 1997, but also by some of his diehard supporters.

On the whole, it can be said that the rule of President Kim Dae Jung, his achievements, reputation and legacy have bee