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Lee Hoi-chang is reportedly coming out of retirement to form an "anti-left" coalition of conservative forces early next year. Four years have elapsed since, in a press conference in the wake of his defeat in the 2002 presidential election, he promised to quit politics for good.
Kim Dae-jung reneged on his promise of political retirement, and Kim Young-sam suddenly declared a political comeback two years after he retired. Though never president himself, Lee follows in their footsteps. It isn¡¯t as if there were no reasons at all to contemplate a comeback. Perhaps the 11.44 million votes he won in the last presidential election persuade him that he has many enthusiastic supporters. Perhaps he takes heart from the fact that that many now regret having voted for Roh Moo-hyun. There is also some sympathy for the grievance Lee sustained from the ruling camp's campaign offensives, like Kim Dae-eop's false allegation that his eldest son dodged the draft, which essentially cost the Grand National Party its election victory, and another false allegation by a Kiyang Construction executive that Lee's wife received W1 billion (US$1=W923) from his boss.
There are instances of successful political comebacks. There is reason to believe that the competition between GNP hopefuls declared so far will become overheated, and that the party could split because of it. What Lee must consider above all at this moment, however, is not the support he may or may not be getting but the heavy responsibility of having lost his party the election twice already, with all the dreadful consequences that has had.
This government has given North Korean spies medals of meritorious service, ruptured the Korea-U.S. alliance and shaken the pillar of national security, spat on the republic's legitimacy, plunged the economy into a low-growth morass, made the poor poorer but punished the rich with tax bombs, and made armies of young people give up their dreams of independence and queue up for the civil service exam instead. The heavy duty Lee has to carry is to help ameliorate the impact of this government¡¯s crimes. With that mountainous weight upon him, how can he afford to calculate advantages as he scans the political terrain?
We remember his post-defeat press conference, when with tears in his eyes he urged the GNP to become a true guardian of "liberal democracy and the security of the republic." That was his greatest moment; he will see no better.
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