Two S. Korean Parties May Be Allies for Vote

SEOUL — Two of South Korea’s opposition parties announced Saturday that they will seek an alliance to prepare for local elections later this year.

Former presidential candidates Kim Young Sam and Kim Jong Pil, leaders of two of the three opposition parties, said in a joint statement, “We will strengthen our recent friendship and cooperation in seeking to reshape political structure before elections for provincial parliaments.”

It said the two believe that a new political atmosphere is necessary because the current four-party system hampers political stability.

Kim Young Sam’s spokesman told reporters the two opposition leaders did not rule out a merger of their parties as a step toward achieving a two-party system.

The two Kims control 95 of 299 seats in the National Assembly, and their alliance would give them a main opposition grouping in Parliament, bypassing the Party for Peace and Democracy, the country’s largest opposition party, headed by Kim Dae Jung. The Party for Peace and Democracy has 70 seats.

Saturday’s statement followed calls by about 10 young members of Parliament from the three parties that all opposition forces should be united into one to beat the ruling Democratic Justice Party in the local elections.

President Roh Tae Woo reshuffled the ruling camp last week in a bid to end factional feuds stemming from the era of his predecessor, Chun Doo Hwan.