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In the latest round of musical chairs in the Uri Party, President Roh Moo-hyun has told former Uri chairman Chung Dong-young he is determined to protect the party and will return to it if Chung quits, according to Uri officials on Sunday. Roh earlier this year left the party he founded four years ago, a move widely seen as an attempt to prevent his low approval ratings from damaging Uri in the next presidential election.
Roh and Chung had an 80-minute luncheon meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on April 27 at the ex-chairman¡¯s request. A ruling-camp insider characterized the meeting as the ¡°final discussion¡± between the two on the future of the Uri Party. After the meeting, Roh and his associates started calling on Chung to leave the party if he must. But Chung and his faction called for a complete dissolution of the party, with Chung also announcing he will quit.
On inter-Korean affairs, Chung asked the president to back former president Kim Dae-jung¡¯s visit to North Korea, to arrange a second inter-Korean summit in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, and to separate inter-Korean issues from the six-nation nuclear talks. Roh was skeptical, especially on the former president¡¯s repeat visit to the North, the insider said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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