SEOUL -- In private, even his friends acknowledge that South Korean President Kim Dae Jung has passed the peak of his term. With the opposition increasingly less inclined to cooperate, it has become ever more difficult for the "government of the people" to enact domestic reforms.

"Our society is in a state of civil war, only without guns and swords," a leading vernacular newspaper said recently of the deteriorating political climate in South Korea a good 18 months ahead of the next presidential elections. Kim's newly launched coalition, bringing together three ideologically diverse parties (his own Millennium Democratic Party, the United Liberal Democrats and the tiny Democratic People's Party), has arguably strengthened the conservative element at the very heart of the government. It is doubtful whether this new political constellation holds the key to the political, social and economic reforms many Koreans are waiting for.

To make matters worse for the Blue House, there is little good news on the diplomatic front. People have almost forgotten the glorious days when Kim rushed from one diplomatic triumph to the other, with dignitaries from far and near lining up for photo sessions with the South Korean statesman. Perhaps the most notable setback for the president has been the recent stalemate in inter-Korean relations. Unlike the difficulties he confronts domestically, the deadlock here is definitely not of his own making, but the fault of Seoul's main ally, Washington, which, wittingly or not, has effectively killed the momentum of North-South rapprochement.