Ruling party to railroad divisive bills
Korea Times | 12-31-2008
Ruling Party to Railroad Divisive Bills
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
(Photo: Korea Times)
Lawmakers of the governing party are expected to ratify the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) motion and railroad 85 contentious bills today after last-minute negotiations with the opposition failed as of midnight Tuesday.
Immediately following the rupture of the marathon inter-party negotiations, National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o invoked his right to mobilize parliamentary security guards to remove opposition lawmakers, who have formed a human chain to occupy the main hall of the National Assembly.
A violent physical clash seems inevitable, as the guards will have to physically drag opposition Democratic Party (DP) lawmakers from the main chamber.
DP representatives have been staging a sit-in inside the Assembly to frustrate what they call anti-democratic bills that are unfair to the underprivileged.
The governing Grand National Party (GNP) is set to railroad the bills, including ratification of the KORUS FTA and media-related motions which, the opposition say, would allow conservative dailies and chaebol to control TV broadcasting companies.
The conservative GNP has 172 seats in the 299-member unicameral legislature, enough to ensure the passage of any bills, except for a revision of the Constitution, without the participation of opposition legislators. The liberal DP has 83 seats.
In a last-ditch effort to reach a compromise, Hong Joon-pyo, floor leader of the governing party, proposed delaying the passage of the more contentious bills until mid-February, while the opposition insisted that the Assembly should not pass them unless the parties first reach a consensus.
DP legislators have been occupying the main floor since last Friday to block the passage of the KORUS FTA motion and seven cross-media ownership bills.
Chairman Chung Sye-kyun blamed President Lee Myung-bak for the parliamentary paralysis, claiming he had made the Assembly his puppet.
The DP had agreed on the passage of public livelihood-related bills, but opposed the FTA motion and those related to the media.
The party stressed that the government had to map out relief measures for farmers and businessmen who are expected to suffer losses due to increasing imports from the United States. However, the GNP said the approval of the trade accord was necessary to reinvigorate the economy.
The DP also denounced what it called seven ``evil’’ bills to control media which would allow print media to own broadcasting networks, and conglomerates to purchase up to a 20-percent stake in broadcasters and up to 49 percent of the shares of news channels.
It claimed the revisions would strengthen the influence of large businesses on the media industry, while undermining freedom of the press.
The governing party insists that the revision will help local media outlets reinforce their competitiveness.
The DP also objected to GNP-proposed motions to ban street protestors from wearing masks; allow the National Intelligence Service to strengthen domestic surveillance; legalize wiretapping of mobile phones; and to penalize those who defame people over the Internet.
In addition, they demanded the scrapping of bills on cutting taxes, arguing that they were only designed to benefit the rich.
Speaker Kim issued an ultimatum Monday, threatening to take all possible legal actions unless DP lawmakers unconditionally halted their occupation of the Assembly’s main chamber.
