Choi Si-jung, the head of Gallup Korea, urged President Roh to seriously approach the nation's problems and come up with appropriate measures for Korea's future. Also, Chang Se-hwan, the former vice governor of North Jeolla province and former public relations aide to Roh during Roh's campaign last year, said in a letter to the president that public sentiment in North Jeolla has turned strongly anti-president and anti-government. Roh, therefore, should support the completion of the Saemangum land reclamation project there, Chang said.

Choi warned that some have been saying President Roh and the government are already losing control over political affairs and becoming lame ducks. But Roh and his administration don't have power to lose, because they have not generated any, Choi said, adding that what is happening in Korea now is like what occurs at the end of a government's period of office.

Some people even have suggested impeachment, a far cry from the usual optimistic period at the beginning of a government's term, Choi said. This is a misfortune not only to the president but also to the people, he added.

The Korean Embassy in Beijing has stopped providing basic services because North Korean refugees who want to come to Korea have overrun it. But here, Choi said, many Koreans want to emigrate due to the "chaos stirred up by President Roh and the government." This was a wound brought by the president's reform policies, Choi said.

Chang Se-whan said in his open letter to the president that he wrote it because public sentiment in North Jeolla province has turned against the president and the government, and no one in the government has stepped forward to ease locals' concerns.

Only 15.6 percent of North Jeollans think favorably of Roh, according to a recent survey, while 38.9 percent support the Millennium Democratic Party. Only 14.1 percent of the province supports the new pro-Roh party that split from the MDP, Chang said.

As the rumor spread that the government would stop the Saemangum project, "the last hope for North Jeolla province," public sentiment is on the verge of explosion, Chang said. The only way to appease the sentiment is for the president to come out and say he will not stop the Saemangeum project, he said. (Kim Min-cheol, mckim@chosun.com )