The most pronounced regional cleavage is between Kyongsang in the south-east and the Cholla region in the south-west.
Much of Mr Kim's political support comes from Cholla, in the south-west, South Korea's poorest region.
ECONOMIST: Too many South Koreans are reluctant to change their ways
NCNP's power-base, which is the Cholla region in the south-west, into the Grand National Party's stronghold in the south-east.
Kim and other leading opposition figures were arrested as tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Kwangju, in South Cholla province.
This largely politically-engineered divide became more visceral after the country's military leadership brutally suppressed a 1980 rebellion in Kwangju, the capital of south Cholla.
But what of Mr Kim's concern for trade unions, his comments about job-sharing, his loyalty to his native and relatively poor Cholla region?
Hoping to broaden his political base from the Cholla region in the south-west of the country, Mr Kim relaunched his political party in November.
Cholla, on the other hand, was left out in the cold and its people stigmatised and disadvantaged, along with their long-term champion and Mr Roh's predecessor, Kim Dae-jung.
Following Mr Kim's victory in the 1997 presidential elections, the favouritism previously shown to the inhabitants of Kyongsang was replaced by the promotion of those who originated from Cholla.
The southwestern Cholla region is likely to remain loyal to its native son Kim, and the MDP is expected to make a clean sweep of the 29 seats on offer.
Kim was born to middle-class farmers on Ha Enido, a small island in South Cholla province, but the family moved to the nearby port of Mokpo so Kim could complete high school.
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