HAN DUCK-SOO SWORN IN AS ROK PM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 000974 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/27/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL KS PINR SUBJECT: HAN DUCK-SOO SWORN IN AS ROK PM REF: SEOUL 705 Classified By: POL M/C Joseph Yun. Reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: President Roh swore in Han Duck-soo as Prime Minister on April 3 after Han's confirmation sailed through the National Assembly on April 2, just hours after the conclusion of the historic KORUS FTA. Han played a central role in the successful conclusion of the KORUS FTA agreement, serving as Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Facilitating KORUS FTA. He also played a crucial role hammering out the final details of the agreement over the last weekend of negotiations. Han's promotion is seen widely as a reward for his distinguished career and loyalty to President Roh. Additionally, most agree he is the right person to guide the FTA through the ratification process. After an overwhelming 210-51 vote in his favor at his confirmation hearings, Han will now try to capitalize on good will in the Assembly to push the agreement toward ratification. Han also will work to explain the FTA as much and as transparently as possible to the Korean people. Han, educated at Harvard, has been a long-time advocate of economic liberalization, free trade and deregulation. END SUMMARY. -------------- BACKGROUND -------------- ¶2. (C) Han, who hails from North Jeolla Province, served as Deputy Prime Minister from 2005-2006 and, during that time, was Acting Prime Minister for one month. At the time of his nomination, some pundits noted Han's selection was due to his North Jeolla background and some protested the choice due to Han's close ties to the KORUS FTA, but his confirmation process was surprisingly smooth. Many speculate this reflects the fact many Koreans see the FTA as potentially painful but ultimately necessary. Some recent polls show as high as 70 percent support for the KORUS FTA. Some experts attribute some of this support to Han's sustained efforts to promote the agreement. Han's lack of political affiliation and excellent reputation made Roh's choice an easy one and surprised many who expected Roh to go with a "crony" or at least someone more politically wed to the core "progressive" Roh philosophy to be his last Prime Minister. -------------- HAN'S PLAN OF ACTION -------------- ¶3. (SBU) In his first Cabinet meeting as PM, Han said he understood the main tenets of the Roh Administration were (1) respect for human beings and (2) balanced development. Han pledged he would do his best to realize these values. In his inaugural address, Han laid out his intentions to, "come up with comprehensive compensatory measures for sectors such as agriculture most likely affected by the KORUS FTA." On other economic issues, Han said he would, "focus on economic revival, promote job creation by promoting small and medium sized businesses," and "follow through with the new administrative city project." In addition to the FTA and the economy, Han said, "I will do my best to ensure a fair and transparent election" and "will never tolerate illegal election intervention by government officials." COMMENT -------------- ¶4. (C) The conclusion of a successful KORUS FTA agreement on April 2 was just the beginning. There will now be an enormous political struggle to ratify the agreement in the Korean National Assembly, which could last well into 2008. In this presidential election year Han has his work cut out for him - in addition to continuing to advocate for the KORUS FTA, he must attempt to manage the lame-duck Roh administration and seek to manage a clean election. Roh, while currently enjoying a temporary surge in popularity (up to 24 percent support in some polls),still faces wide-spread opposition to his policies. According to some pundits, it will not be possible for the Roh administration to focus energies on passing the FTA with so many other pressing issues still to be resolved in his remaining 10 months in office - North Korea, Constitutional revision, real estate reform, etc. These pundits posit that the FTA will get pushed to the next Assembly in June, 2008, allowing Roh to focus on North Korea and December's presidential elections. VERSHBOW