Seoul, Feb 25: Former dissident Kim Dae-Jung took the oath of office as South Korea's new president on Wednesday and in his first pledge to the nation proposed an exchange of envoys with the communist North.He also vowed, during an elaborate open air ceremony attended by some 49,000 guests, Korean and foreign, to do his utmost to revive the crisis-hit economy.
It was the first transfer of power from a ruling to an opposition party in South Korea's history, and Kim said he was calling his government a "government of the people."
"I solemnly swear before the people to abide by the constitution, protect the country, strive for peaceful unification of the fatherland, enhance the welfare of the people and uphold the nation's culture," Kim said.
The oath-taking, telecast nationwide, under bright, sunny skies in an open-air amphitheatre outside Seoul's national assembly building was followed by singing by massed choirs.
The thousands of guests from at home and abroad included a nine-member US delegationled by president Bill Clinton's special advisor Thomas McLarty, former French primier Pierre Mauroy, Japanese ex-prime minister Yasuhiro Makasone and Germany's former president Richard Von Weizsaecker.
Also present were IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, Philippine ex-president Corazon Aquino, one of Kim Dae-Jung's closest friends, US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and three us former ambassadors who helped save Kim from death under past military governments.
Copyright(c)1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
