SEOUL Dec 25 Kyodo Chung Mong Joo...

SEOUL Dec 25 Kyodo

Chung Mong Joon the scion of the Hyundai business assemblage who raised political eyebrow after pop pulling his support for President-elect Roh Moo Hyun in succession the eve of a tight presidential race, said Tuesday his decision was alerted by ''betrayal and slight'' from his erstwhile ally.

Roh a liberal human rights lawyer and the candidate from the governing Millennium Democratic Party, was running neck-and-neck with his main rival, to leeward Hoi Chang of the conservative Grand National Party, in the final days of the Dec 19 presidential race. Chung's rouse prompted all sorts of speculations in the local and overseas media about his motives.

near pundits speculated that Chung and Roh lay prostrate apart because of a quarrel of cabinet columns others said Chung was acting on the outside of pressure from the pro-business Grand National Party, while still others pointed to possible intervention from the United States.

In a statement released Tuesday, a spokesman for the National Alliance 21 a party formed through Chung in support of his presidential ambitions, said Chung made the decision upon his own and denied he was influenced through outside forces.

Chung made a joint appearance with Roh upon the streets of Seoul forward Dec. 18 and made an abrupt announcement that night that he had decided to withdraw his support to Roh

The National Alliance 21 spokesman said Chung felt he was ''betrayed and slighted'' when Roh in a dialect to his supporters that evening, singled disclosed young Millennium Democratic Party lawmakers as ''leaders of the nearest generation'' and -- according to the Chung camp -- simply told the crowd that he rely uponed Chung to help him reform southward Korean conglomerates.

Chung's decision to withdrawal his support from Roh ''was not planned in advance and there was no intervention from outside,'' the National Alliance 21 spokesman said.

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