S. Korean Ruling Party’s Draft Charter Would Bar Candidacy of Kim Dae Jung

President Chun Doo Hwan’s ruling party on Monday completed a proposed draft of a new national constitution that would bar opposition leader Kim Dae Jung from running for president later this year.

The Democratic Justice Party’s proposed charter, which must still be given final approval in a party caucus on Wednesday, also differs radically from the opposition’s proposal in the key areas of voting age and the creation of a post of vice president.

Leaders of the two parties are expected later this week to begin negotiating a final version of a new national constitution that Chun has vowed will usher in a new age of democracy in South Korea. But, based on the latest versions of the two drafts, it is clear the two sides are so far apart that it will be difficult to reach an accord.

Chun’s Bitterest Foe

The new constitution is the basic component of sweeping democratic reforms forced on Chun on June 29 when ruling party chairman Roh Tae Woo stunned the nation with the proposal in an effort to end the worst anti-government street protests since Chun’s military-dominated regime came to power in a mutiny seven years ago.

Kim Dae Jung, the bitterest political foe of Chun--an ex-army general himself--and of the nation’s powerful military as a whole, was given back his civil rights, released from house arrest and granted amnesty for charges that he tried to overthrow the government. But ruling party and military leaders are afraid that the popular and charismatic Kim may seek revenge if he becomes president.

Included in the ruling party’s constitutional draft is a provision currently in the South Korean charter that requires presidential candidates to have resided in the country continuously for the past five years.

The clause would disqualify the 63-year-old Kim, who returned to Seoul in late 1984 after two years of medical treatment and self-imposed exile in the United States.

Speculation Premature

The opposition’s draft charter, which will be presented by the Reunification Democratic Party of Kim Young Sam, Kim Dae Jung’s opposition rival, deletes the residency clause, which would also disqualify Kim Jong Pil, an already declared splinter-group candidate who is likely to take votes away from ruling party candidate Roh.

In an interview with the Times on Monday, Kim Dae Jung said it was premature to discuss his possible candidacy. He also played down an apparent conflict over the presidency between himself and Kim Young Sam.

“This is not the time for that,” Kim Dae Jung said in his modest, one-story Seoul home. “I think this is the time for us to pay major attention to realizing democracy.

“There are many, many problems that are still not solved. We must free the remaining political prisoners, restore many peoples’ civil rights, end the forceful military draft of students, free the laborers to organize unions and reinstate the workers who have been fired for union activity.

“The basic democratic rights of our people have not been restored, and also we see some very hard bargaining by the ruling party in negotiations on the new constitution.”

Kim reiterated that he and Kim Young Sam will agree on a single opposition candidate to face Roh in the elections. However, Kim Dae Jung is planning a major tour of the South Korean countryside at the end of July that many analysts see as a campaign swing.

The other points of controversy between the two parties’ drafts involve two key provisions that would enhance the opposition’s chances at the polls.

The opposition wants to reduce the country’s voting age to 18. That would give suffrage to all of the college students who launched and led the recent round of street protests against the Chun regime. The ruling party is proposing to keep the voting age at 20.

The opposition’s draft also creates the position of vice president, which would permit a ticket that includes both Kim Young Sam and Kim Dae Jung, a combination that most political and diplomatic analysts here say is unbeatable. There is no such post in the ruling-party version.

Differences May Be Too Vast

One senior Western diplomat speculated that the differences in the two proposals may be so vast that the upcoming negotiation process may well fail to produce a compromise.

“Will they be hopeless obstacles?” the diplomat asked. “It all depends on whether the will is there to reach a bipartisan accord. And so far, the one thing we have not seen is any dialogue or negotiation.”

If the two parties fail to reach agreement, the diplomat added, the National Assembly, dominated by the ruling party, is likely to introduce the ruling-party’s version as legislation that would be a fait accompli . If such a constitutional bill passes, it would still have to be ratified by the South Korean people in a national referendum.

But, when asked whether the ruling party would actually propose continuing the residency requirement, the diplomat, who spoke before the draft was released on Monday, said, “It seems that both sides think that would just be too sneaky a way to keep Kim Dae Jung out.”