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In a meeting with the leaders of the four major political parties on Sunday, President Roh Moo-hyun said if the amount of illegal campaign contributions that his camp used during the last presidential election exceeds a tenth of that used by the Grand National Party, he would resign and retire from politics.
Roh met that day with Grand National Party chairman Choe Byung-yul, Millennium Democratic Party chairman Chough Soon-hyung, Uri Party chairman Kim One-ki, and United Liberal Democratic Party president Kim Jong-pil.
When Choe brought up the issue of unfair investigation by the prosecution, Roh said, "After the investigations are completed, if a separate special investigation into the campaign contributions I received is introduced in the National Assembly, I will accept it."
Roh's statement could mean that he would be willing to approve of the formation of a special counsel to investigate the source of his presidential campaign funds, and that he would consider stepping down as president.
When the leaders of GNP and the United Liberal Democratic suggested that it would be better to conclude the investigations into the presidential election funds as soon as possible, considering the damage it could do to the national economy, Roh showed a negative view. If the political parties actively and wholeheartedly cooperate with the prosecutors, by promptly answering summons calls and providing the necessary documents, the investigation would be over soon, he said. If everything gets revealed, the whole affair will help the economy in a long term, Roh said.
Choe said that he is ashamed of his party's use of illegal presidential election funds, and that he would take responsibility of such misdeeds. He suggested that after getting the investigation done in a fair and quick manner, all parties should work on reforming election standards.
All four leaders asked the presidents to withdraw his plan for a national vote of confidence in his presidency, calling it unconstitutional.
On the issue of the troop dispatch to Iraq, all four leaders agreed with the government's plan to send a force of about 3,000 soldiers, composed of 1,400 special warfare command troops, 1,400 soldiers to assist reconstruction, and headquarters personnel. The force will take full responsibility for a certain region in Iraq.
The government plans to have the dispatch plan discussed in a security council meeting of Cabinet members sometime this week, and to finalize the plan in the Cabinet meeting on December 23 before sending it to the National Assembly for a motion, meaning that troop dispatch plan is likely to be passed within this year.
(Shin Jeong-rok, jrshin@chosun.com )
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