SEOUL (UCAN) - South Korea's President-elect Kim Dae-jung indicated to national religious leaders he called to a meeting that he will release political prisoners after his inauguration in February. "I will consult with the relevant ministries to free the prisoners of conscience," Kim told Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan of Seoul, Protestant Reverend Kang Won-yong and Venerable Song Wol-ju, the monk chief executive of the Buddhist Chogye order.
The president-elect invited the religious leaders to the Jan. 14 meeting at his residence in Ilsan, 30 kilometers northwest of Seoul, to clarify his domestic policy and to listen to their recommendations.
According to human rights organizations, South Korea has 636 prisoners of conscience, although the Justice Ministry denies it has any. On measures to help the country recover from the economic crisis, Kim Dae-jung said that he has tried to persuade workers and the public to accept the strict economic conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF arranged a US$60-billion loan package for South Korea last December, but in turn demanded that the country implement austere economic reforms.
"The domestic economy is indeed in a far more critical situation than what the public understands," Kim told the religious leaders, adding that extra efforts must be made by all sectors of the domestic economy.
In a departure from his pro-labor position during the presidential campaign of opposing the legalization of layoffs, Kim said, "Allowing layoffs is inevitable to recover the competitiveness of domestic industries." But the president-elect said that his administration would provide wider welfare support for the unemployed. He then asked the religious leaders to convince the public of the need for economic restructuring through layoffs.
However, the religious leaders expressed their concern that layoffs would only create hardship for workers and their families, while blaming the government and business groups as responsible for the economic disaster. "The entire population fully understands the critical situation of the domestic economy, But while making decisions, government officials must look into the matter with fairness," Cardinal Kim said.
A day earlier, IMF managing director Michel Camdessus met with Cardinal Kim to discuss the IMF loan conditions. He told the cardinal that the IMF did not specifically request that the government legalize laying workers off. Kim Dae-jung, a Catholic, who won the presidential election last Dec. 18 in his fourth bid for the office, will assume the presidency on Feb. 25.
UCAN (22. januar 1998)
22. januar 1998