Word: kim
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Chun opened the talks by telling Kim he had "been wishing to see ((him)) all along" and had not previously met with him only because of "difficult circumstances." He then proceeded to compare the campaign to reform South Korea's constitution by referendum to go, a popular Oriental board game in which two opponents seek to outflank each other and expand territory with scores of strategically deployed small stones. Said Chun: "Political development will become difficult if we behave like a go player who angrily sweeps the go board clean in the middle of a game because he is doing...
That was unacceptable to Kim for several reasons. The Assembly, he said, had previously dithered over the presidential election issue without resolving it. Resubmitting it to the legislature, he argued, would only lead to further delays. No matter where the question was being debated, Kim said, it would in the end be settled by the President. "You are responsible for state affairs," he said. "I think that the discussions should be held with the responsible person...
Stalemated on that most crucial of issues, the two men moved on to other subjects. Pressed by Kim as to whether he was fully aware of the gravity of the situation, Chun assured his visitor he had received complete and voluminous reporting on the demonstrations and other developments. Said the President, who was seated next to a table holding a glass ashtray: "In fact, I have been smoking heavily because of the pressure of reading so many reports." Chun pointedly refused to rule out a military crackdown, claiming that "hard-core leftists" were partly responsible for the current disorders...
While agreeing to end the house arrest of Kim Dae Jung, Chun refused to restore his political rights, which were stripped after Kim was convicted by a military court of sedition in 1980. The President said his decision was influenced by the "attitude of the person concerned." Translation: Kim, who once ran for President and won 46% of the vote, is still too large a threat to the ruling party to risk restoring him to full political activity. Finally, Chun promised to order the release of nearly all the 300 demonstrators arrested during the current round of protests but indicated...
...samkyetang, a soup containing a small chicken stuffed with rice and ginseng root, the two men parted company with vague promises to meet again. While much of the South Korean press chose to emphasize Chun's concession rather than his failure to agree to a referendum, neither of the Kims tried to place an optimistic gloss on the meeting. Said Kim Young Sam: "Frankly speaking, I don't have the right to stop the demonstrations on the basis of the two points the President agreed to." Declared Kim Dae Jung, shortly after police barricades were withdrawn from his house...