KWON YOUNG-KIL, leader of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), is standing in South Korea's presidential election in December. HAN DONG-MIN looks at the background.

The decision by the trade union federations and the National Alliance for Democracy and the Reunification of Korea, an umbrella group of “progressive” political organisations, to announce Kwon as their candidate follows two months of general strikes, led by the KCTU, at the start of the year.

This is the first step towards the movement having its own political party. Despite repeated struggles since 1960, Koreans had no left-wing party. People have backed the liberal political leaders Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam.

Massive protests in 1987 made the then dictator-president Chun Doo-hwan and his chosen heir Roh Tae-woo concede to democratisation, after they initiated the “new military regime” in 1980 at the cost of hundreds of lives in the infamous Kwangju massacre.

The two Kims split for the presidential election that followed six months later, allowing the hated Roh to step into the office. In hatred of Kim Dae-jung and desire for power, Kim Young-sam joined Roh and Kim Jong-pil in government.

Kim Jong-pil was the right-hand man and nephew-in-law of Park Chung-hee, the leader of the military coup in 1961 and dictator from 1972.

In the 1992 presidential election, Kim Young-sam won by spending immeasurable sums of money collected from the chaebol (conglomerates) and by painting his old colleague Kim Dae-jung as a “red”.

Kim Young-sam became the prisoner of the chaebol. On December 26 he forced through the new labour laws that sparked the general strike. He rapidly lost political influence by yielding to the strikers and through a scandalous bribery crisis that soon followed.

Other candidates

The ruling New Korea Party (NKP) selected Lee Hoi-Chang as their presidential candidate, perhaps against the current president's will. An ex-prime minister, he was driven out by Kim Young-sam. Lee was nicknamed “Mr Clean” and was a respected Supreme Court judge. As chairman of the Election Management Board, he bravely criticised the ruling party.

But, Lee's eldest son evaded military service. Lee's popularity in the polls plummeted from 35% to 15%.

Rhee In-je, the runner-up in the NKP ballot, left the party to launch his own presidential bid. Still in his 40s, he is proclaiming the need for “generation change”. He was called the “son” of Kim Young-sam and has a 20% share of the polls, second place. Some doubt he can keep the pace.

Kim Dae-jung, now the leader of National Congress for New Politics, the main opposition party, has been keeping first place in the polls since Lee was damaged, with 30% support.

He maintains popularity among the more backward middle class by adopting various right-wing policies, and severing all connections with the “progressive” movement. He collaborates with Kim Jong-pil, repeatedly promising that the two will share power in a coalition government.

Another candidate, Cho Soon, is an intellectual floating between centre-right and centre-left. He was a minister in Roh's administration but not very obedient.

He was elected mayor of Seoul backed by Kim Dae-jung, but refused to return the favour and chose the tiny Democratic Party as his campaign base. He has captured only 10%.

Kim Jong-pil, once regarded as the natural heir of Park Chung-hee, now leads a small far-right United Liberal Democrats, and knows he will not be president. The only possibility left for him is to be prime minister in a coalition government.

Left-wing party

The labour movement's decision to field Kwon Young-kil was not made easily. Many of the activists and labour unionists will cast tactical votes for Kim Dae-jung to get rid of the long-standing conservative NKP.

Kwon's vote will not be big, particularly with Kim Dae-jung's popularity. However, after the general strike, there emerged full agreement amongst the rank-and-file as well as the leaders that a working-class party is essential.

That is why the movement will split, but with mutual understanding, to vote for either Kwon or Kim. Ultimately it will mean a fully fledged left-wing party before the general election in 1999. Then the whole landscape of Korean politics will be permanently transformed.

[Abridged from the Socialist (Britain).]

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