July 31, 2002
Seoul National Assembly Rejects Woman as Prime Minister
By DON KIRK
SEOUL, South Korea, July 31 — South Korea's national assembly today overwhelmingly rejected President Kim Dae Jung's attempt at appointing a woman as prime minister after a bruising debate that touched on issues ranging from her real estate dealings to her educational background.
Conservative assembly members led the movement against Chang Sang, a university president whose appointment three weeks ago seemed like a bold move that might appeal to female voters in the presidential election in December.
Instead, the rejection of Ms. Chang by a margin of 144 to 100 was another embarrassment for Mr. Kim, whose popularity has diminished while two of his three sons remain in jail on trial on charges of influence-peddling and corruption.
The Grand National Party, a powerful political grouping whose leader, Lee Hoi Chang, has moved ahead in popularity polls testing voters' preference for president, organized hearings that showed their determination to use the appointment as ammunition against the president and his policies.
Although the post of prime minister is of largely ceremonial significance in a system in which the president holds the ultimate power, Mr. Lee and his aides saw an easy opportunity to appeal to voter sentiment on sensitive issues among Koreans. Mr. Lee, who lost to Mr. Kim in the 1997 election by 1.7 percent of the votes, faces a former human rights lawyer, Roh Moo Hyun, at the polls in December. Mr. Kim cannot succeed himself as president but hopes his successor will continue his policies, notably his efforts at rapprochement with North Korea.
After the vote the president staunchly defended his choice. "She's capable and respected," he said in a statement expressing "keen regret that she was denied the post."
Ms. Chang, 62, who would have been the first woman to serve as prime minister, was grilled on why she bought and sold expensive apartments, why her American-born son had chosen American rather than Korean citizenship and why her resumé said she had a doctorate from Princeton University when she actually got it from the Princeton Theological Seminary.
Ms. Chang, who had the title of acting prime minister and had already presided over cabinet meetings, responded to all the questions, saying that her real estate purchases were part of an effort to find a place in which to live and that her son would become a Korean citizen.
She even had an answer for why the resumé said she had a Ph.D. in theology from Princeton: an error in translation by her office at Ehwa, the prestigious women's university where she has served as president.
Many observers believed, however, that the voting reflected traditional Korean attitudes toward women, who occupy fewer than 6 percent of the seats in the assembly and rarely rise to executive positions.
A leader of the Grand National Party, Kim Moo Sung, resigned as Lee Hoi Chang's chief of staff in a furor that broke out after he questioned whether Ms. Chang could replace the 77-year-old Kim Dae Jung as chief of state as stipulated by the Constitution in case of the death of the president.
Although Kim Moo Sung apologized for remarking, "It is very disturbing to think that a woman will become head of state if President Kim cannot carry out his duties," there was no doubt he reflected widespread sentiments among Koreans.
"Many Korean politicians send their sons abroad for education so they won't have to serve in the army," said Kim Hye Suu, a recent university graduate now working in a foreign embassy. "These allegations are going on because she is a woman. If she were a man, it would not be the same."
Typically, she said, "Korean women follow their husbands or boyfriends or brothers in political matters."
Ms. Chang, however, lost favor among many Korean women during the televised hearings.
"People do not think anything of her," said Lee In Sook, an assistant manager in a company. "It's kind of a scandal. We don't think she's so innocent or moral. She lied about her education, and her real estate investments were very suspicious. Obviously she's made a lot of money."
Ms. Lee asked why President Kim felt compelled to appoint a woman for the last seven months of his presidency, which ends in February, while dismissing a prime minister who had served in the post for two years.
"He thinks he can attract votes from women," she said, "but I never heard of any woman who supported her."
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company |
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Abraham Lincoln
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