Kim Dae-jung`s remark draws backlash

Conservatives yesterday denounced former President Kim Dae-jung for his controversial remarks that referred to President Lee Myung-bak as "dictator."

In a speech Thursday during a ceremony commemorating the June 15 Joint Declaration adopted at his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000, Kim said that dictatorship was ruling the country and that the gap between the wealthy and the poor was widening.

"Let`s not keep our heads low and try to flatter a dictator," Kim said.

Stressing that the nation achieved democracy against autocratic rule in the past, Kim urged the president to take a different approach in handling state affairs.

"If the president continues to take the same path that he has in the past, I`m confident that the people as well as the government will remain miserable."



In response, presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan yesterday criticized Kim for making remarks that were "inappropriate" for a former president.

"It`s a shame that a former president who should be leading the act of unifying our people during such hardships is rather escalating conflict," Lee said.

Former President Kim Young-sam also released a statement, saying "we must not let Kim Dae-jung instigate the public by causing tongues to wag through his speech, which does not offer any consideration for the people."

Naming Kim Dae-jung as the originator of the global security threat caused by North Korea, Kim Young-sam demanded Kim Dae-jung to "shut his own mouth."

Former President Kim Dae-jung had maintained a good relationship with the North while he was the nation`s president, providing more financial support than the current Lee Myung-bak administration.

The ruling Grand National Party lawmakers also joined the assault on the former president.

"I believe former President Kim Dae-jung now needs some rest. He should quietly have some time off to think about how he could be respected by moving towards unity," said GNP Chairman Park Hee-tae.

GNP floor leader Ahn Sang-soo asked the former president to keep silent, stating that "silence is how he could help the country and the people."

Rep. Chang Kwang-keun, GNP secretary general, also said he could not repress his astonishment on the former president`s statement.

"I can only be suspicious of the fact that Kim, who did not hesitate to define the current president as a dictator, was once the president of the nation," he said.

(sharon@heraldm.com)



By Cho Ji-hyun