Silent Kim as S.Korean Political Feud Intensifies April 23, 2002 Kim Silent as S.Korean Political Feud Intensifies By REUTERS Filed at 5:13 a.m. ET SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Kim Dae-jung vowed on Tuesday to push on with his administration's main projects, shrugging off an opposition threat to seek his impeachment over scandal allegations against his sons. On Monday, the main opposition party said scandal allegations involving Kim's sons had triggered a ``national crisis'' and made it necessary for Kim to detach himself from domestic affairs and replace his government with a caretaker cabinet. The Grand National Party (GNP) backed up its demand with a threat to start impeachment proceedings against the 77-year-old president, who is in his final 10 months in office. Kim is not accused of wrongdoing. He has remained silent on investigations of two of his sons in separate cases involving alleged ties to figures who are under arrest for bribery. ``The president's stance is that it is not appropriate to comment while the cases are under investigation by prosecutors,'' presidential spokeswoman Park Sun-sook told reporters on Tuesday. While none of the allegations against Kim's sons has been proven, they have grabbed headlines in an election year and reminded Koreans of the misdeeds of previous leaders' relatives. Five years ago, the jailing of the son of then president Kim Young-sam for bribery put the stamp of failure on his presidency and hurt his party in the 1997 presidential election. OPPOSITION POLITICAL OFFENSIVE? On Monday, Kim's spokeswoman Park blasted the GNP's impeachment threat as ``a political that offensive is unconstitutional and runs against national interests.'' On December 19, South Korea's 33 million voters will choose a successor to Kim, who is barred by the constitution from seeking re-election after his five-year term ends next February. On June 13, voters will elect provincial governors and big city mayors. Kim told his cabinet it must carry out ``four major tasks and four big events'' this year, a reference to Kim's policy goals for the economy, anti-corruption and relations with North Korea and to the World Cup, Asian Games and elections in June and December. The allegations against the president's sons were made by businessmen under arrest for bribery and influence peddling. One of the businessmen, Choi Kyu-son, worked on Kim's 1997 election campaign. According to prosecutors, Choi says he gave $692,900 to Kim's third son, Kim Hong-gul. U.S. law enforcement authorities said in at least two instances there were no legal grounds to investigate Kim H...