National Alliance 21 leader Chung Mong-joon, in a shock move Wednesday night, suddenly withdrew his support for Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) presidential candidate Roh Moo-hyun. Chung had been with Roh's joint campaign speech tour since last Friday when they had agreed to share responsibilities in running state affairs if Roh is elected president.

NA21 Spokeswomen Kim Haeng said in her statement that Roh had used an expression at a joint campaign speech rally that Chung could not agree with. She continued, Roh had said in a campaign speech held at Myeongdong Seoul Wednesday, "if the US and North Korea start a war, we will stop it," which went against Chung's belief that the US is South Korea's ally and there was no reason it would start a war against North Korea.

In addition, Roh had pointed to a Chung supporter holding a banner calling for the NA21 leader to be the 17th president in the 2007, and said that he was being premature as there would be other candidates. Kim said that Chung now believed that the worst practice of the country's political world was betrayal and unfaithfulness, which should never be repeated again.

Observers, however, said Chung must have flared up by Roh's comments regarding the 2007 election citing his comments on betrayal.

Kim added that Chung would hold a news conference after the presidential election to explain his decision.

In related news, Roh attempted to mend bridges with Chung late in the evening, however, the former refused to see him. Also, 60 NA21 staff quit the party in protest at the move, saying there had been no prior discussion and it represented a personal decision. (Cho Hui-chun, hccho@chosun.com )