By Ryu Jin & Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporters


President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday renewed his determination to overcome the nation’s regionalism, telling ruling Uri Party lawmakers that the challenge is the last goal of his decades-long political life.

In a dinner meeting at Chong Wa Dae with legislators of the party, Roh once again stressed that he would give up his vested interests and sacrifice himself in order to achieve the goal within his tenure.

``The people want new politics, a shift from the history of division and confrontation to a future of unity and co-prosperity,’’ he told the lawmakers. ``My proposal for a grand coalition with the largest opposition Grand National Party (GNP) is part of achieving that ultimate goal before wrapping up my political life.’’

Roh’s remarks came amid signs of an internal feud within the ruling party as not a few lawmakers raised their voices against his recent coalition proposal, which proponents say is a way of defeating the deep-rooted regional animosity that largely characterizes the nation’s divisive politics.

A martyr to the inveterate voting practice which enabled certain parties to sweep almost all the National Assembly seats in their respective strongholds, Roh said he could even consider giving up all of his presidential power if the distorted political culture could be corrected.

He suggested that the GNP take up more than half of his presidential power in a newly formed coalition government and, instead, agree to overhaul the electoral system so that a certain party cannot monopolize votes of a certain region.

But the GNP, which represents the nation’s conservative forces, immediately denounced the coalition proposal, calling it a ``political ploy’’ ahead of crucial elections in the coming years.

It was not only the opposition parties that turned a cold shoulder to Roh. Some lawmakers of the ruling party also started to criticize him, saying it is absurd for the liberal reformist party to share power with the conservative GNP.

Heated discussions on the coalition proposal dominated the governing party’s two-day workshop in Tongyong, South Kyongsang Province.

During the workshop which ended earlier in the day, some defiant lawmakers urged the ruling camp to stop talking about the coalitions and instead focus on reviving the nation’s economy.

``We have decided to stop holding internal discussions on the coalition issue, but to make efforts to generate specific bills for reforming the regionally divided electoral system,’’ said a statement issued at the end of the workshop.

Tuesday’s Chong Wa Dae meeting, attended by almost all of the party’s 145 lawmakers, became an arena for an even hotter debate, as several challengers refused to compromise, according to sources at the presidential office.

``The president and the party lawmakers had frank discussions,’’ a lawmaker said on condition of anonymity. ``It was a very useful meeting, indeed.’’

``There are times when we have to look straight at the duty of our changing times and adopt new ideas that defy old, fixed ideas,’’ Roh said at the beginning of the meeting, trying to persuade party colleagues. ``And now is that time, I believe.’’

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr