SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's opposition on Wednesday decided to boycott a parliamentary vote on the appointment as prime minister of the coalition partner of newly installed President Kim Dae-jung. "We will not attend the vote this afternoon in order to block the appointment of Kim Jong--pil as premier," said Maeng Hyung--kyu, chief spokesman of the Grand National Party (GNP). The decision was taken within hours of Kim Dae--jung's inauguration as President. Kim won the December 18 presidential poll, but the GNP still holds 161 of 299 seats in the National Assembly, enough votes to defeat the nomination. President Kim on Monday nominated Kim Jong-pil, the founding head of an intelligence agency that the president said once tried to kill him. "We have said we wanted a figure with no tainted background as prime minister," the GNP spokesman said. But analysts said the GNP also feared a split in its ranks if a vote was taken in parliament and legislators crossed party lines to support the nomination. The GNP is a patchwork of factions associated with outgoing President Kim Young-sam, former military presidents and others. Some analysts expect it to splinter eventually. Kim Jong-pil, 72, a retired army colonel, played a pivotal role in the 1961 coup that brought General Park Chung Hee to power and served as his right-hand man until the dictator's assassination in 1979. He was also the founding head of the hated Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA). Kim Dae-jung's National Congress for New Politics (NCNP) said it was disappointed. It was not immediately clear what would happen next with the nomination. NCNP sources said Kim Dae-jung might install Kim Jong-pil as "acting prime minister" which does not need parliamentary approval. But political analysts said that could be illegal under the constitution. Others like professor Lim expected the GNP to go along with the nomination in the end. The GNP announced its decision to oppose the nomination on Monday, days after a Seoul newspaper published secret documents from the now defunct KCIA about the attempted assassination of Kim Dae-jung. While in self-imposed exile in Japan in 1973, Kim was kidnapped from his Tokyo hotel room by government agents, who were thwarted in the act of trying to drown him. Kim was dumped blindfolded at his home outside Seoul days later. Kim Jong-pil was prime minister at the time. In South Korea, power rests with the president and the premiership is less important. But the two Kims have agreed to move towards a parliamentary model which would greatly strengthen the office of prime minister.