By Cho Ji-hyun

Conservatives yesterday denounced former President Kim Dae-jung for his controversial remarks that referred to President Lee Myung-bak as "dictator."

In a speech Thursday during a ceremony commemorating the June 15 Joint Declaration adopted at his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000, Kim said that dictatorship was ruling the country and that the gap between the wealthy and the poor was widening.

"Let's not keep our heads low and try to flatter a dictator," Kim said.

Stressing that the nation achieved democracy against autocratic rule in the past, Kim urged the president to take a different approach in handling state affairs.

"If the president continues to take the same path that he has in the past, I'm confident that the people as well as the government will remain miserable."

In response, presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan yesterday criticized Kim for making remarks that were "inappropriate" for a former president.

"It's a shame that a former president who should be leading the act of unifying our people during such hardships is rather escalating conflict," Lee said.

Former President Kim Young-sam also released a statement, saying "we must not let Kim Dae-jung instigate the public by causing tongues to wag through his speech, which does not offer any consideration for the people."

Naming Kim Dae-jung as the originator of the global security threat caused by North Korea, Kim Young-sam demanded Kim Dae-jung to "shut his own mouth."

Former President Kim Dae-jung had maintained a good relationship with the North while he was the nation's president, providing more financial support than the current Lee Myung-bak administration.

The ruling Grand National Party lawmakers also joined the assault on the former president.

"I believe former President Kim Dae-jung now needs some rest. He should quietly have some time off to think about how he could be respected by moving towards unity," said GNP Chairman Park Hee-tae.

GNP floor leader Ahn Sang-soo asked the former president to keep silent, stating that "silence is how he could help the country and the people."

Rep. Chang Kwang-keun, GNP secretary general, also said he could not repress his astonishment on the former president's statement.

"I can only be suspicious of the fact that Kim, who did not hesitate to define the current president as a dictator, was once the president of the nation," he said.

sharon@heraldm.com