Roh Wins S. Korea's Ruling Party Presidential Nomination

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, April 27, 2002

Roh Wins S. Korea's Ruling Party Presidential Nomination

Roh Moo-Hyun on Saturday won the nomination of South Korea's ruling Millennium Democratic Party ( MDP) for the December 17 presidential poll, the party announced.

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Roh Moo-Hyun on Saturday won the nomination of South Korea's ruling Millennium Democratic Party ( MDP) for the December 17 presidential poll, the party announced.

Roh Moo-Hyun, 55, won 72.2 percent of the ballots in the party' s six-week primary race.

The widely expected nomination strengthens Roh's place as the front-runner for the coming ballot.

A son of a poor farmer, Roh has had no formal education beyond high school. He became a lawyer in 1977 by studying for the bar himself.

Roh became known nationally in 1981 when he took up the case of students accused of sedition against then-president Chun Doo-hwan.

He entered politics in 1988 as an opposition member and was elected a national legislator in his political hometown of Busan, South Korea's second largest city. He served as a maritime affairs minister in the current administration.

"We hereby declare that Roh Moo-Hyun has been elected as the presidential candidate of the Millennium Democratic Party," Kim Young-Bae, head of the MDP presidential nomination committee, said at a televised MDP national convention.

Opinion polls have consistently put Roh ahead as the likely successor to incumbent President Kim Dae-jung, whom was barred by South Korea's constitution from seeking a second term in the presidential election.

Surveys show Roh is particularly popular among the young and middle-aged voters for his position of "lessening South Korea's reliance on the United States."

"There should come a time when not just the Americans and Europeans but also the Asians will play a main role in the world," Roh told party members this week.

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