GIA Chief Defends Secrecy Over Press Room Bombshell GNP Chairman Vows to Fight Press Restrictions Treating the Press Like the Enemy War on the Press Will Sour Roh’s Last Days in Office What Really Matters Is the President, by Kang Chun-suk Roh Comes Out Fighting Over Press Room Merger Draconian New Press Rules Spark First Confrontations Why Roh Is Throwing the Book at the Press Uri Suspicious of Motives for Press Room Merger No Progress for the Progressives Int'l Press Club Slams Korea's New Media Rules Media Experts Reject New Press Rules: Poll The Right to Know What He Wants Us to Know Seven More Months, by Kim Dae-joong Gov't Efforts to Limit Media Access Continue Gov’t Ups the Ante in Press Crackdown Journalists, Readers Sue Over Pressroom Merger

Four out of five former election commissioners believe that President Roh Moo-hyun’s explicit criticism of presidential hopefuls on Saturday amounts to violation of the election law. The law asks public officials to stay aloof from political affairs and bans them from participating in election campaigns. At a meeting of the pro-Roh group Government Evaluation Forum, the president lashed out at presidential hopefuls of the opposition and ruling parties and said a Grand National Party victory in the election would be “horrible.”

The Chosun Ilbo sought opinions from former National Election Commission chairmen and members before the NEC rules on Thursday whether Roh’s remarks breach the election law. Most ex-commissioners said the president’s attack on the GNP and its presidential contenders seemed more serious than his criticism of opposition parties immediately before the 2004 general elections, which triggered an impeachment motion against him.

Kim Suk-soo, a former NEC chairman, said the president violated Article 9 of the election law, which asks public officials to remain neutral in elections by saying it was "horrible" to imagine an irresponsible party like the GNP taking power. Roh seemed to war of dire consequences, Kim said.

Jung Hong-won, a former commission member, said the president’s remarks sounded more blatant than his 2004 attack and predicted the NEC to rule against him given the “serious nature” of the remarks. "The president’s derogatory expressions and contempt for the Constitution fueled controversy whether he breached election law.” Roh on Saturday said the “damned Constitution” prevented him from participating in discussions about GNP candidates. A former NEC member who ruled on the legality of the president’s remarks in 2004 said the Constitutional Court at the time also accepted the NEC’s opinion that Roh’s remarks breached the election law. He added the president’s latest remarks are more serious than those in 2004.

A NEC member from the days of the Kim Dae-jung administration said Roh ignored the obligation to remain neutral. Although a president can express his own political opinions, Roh’s recent remarks “went beyond the expression of personal political belief” since he named specific presidential candidates on a public occasion with the launch of the official election campaign in sight, he added.

However, one former NEC member disagreed. Im Sang-hyun, a lawyer, said in addition to the meaning of remarks, the timing is also important in deciding whether they violate the law. “It’s premature to decide that the president violated the election law since his remarks came with the launch of the official election campaign months away,” Im said. “In 2004, the NEC found his remarks illegal since the president made them just two months before the general elections, where they had a much bigger impact.”

(englishnews@chosun.com )