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.

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BACKGROUND
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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.

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HAN'S PLAN OF ACTION
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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
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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