Opposition party to boycott Assembly agenda

The ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) is going all out to open dialogue with the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) following the scrapping of an opposition-proposed motion to impeach two highest ranking prosecutors. But the opposition party is adamantly refusing to return to the assembly floor.

A prolonged stalemate in the nation's political arena appears certain.

In a meeting of senior party leaders and a general conference of GNP National Assemblymen convened successively on Monday the party members reaffirmed that the Democrats are to blame for the disruption of parliamentary proceedings and that they would not attend any assembly sessions. Party spokesman Kwon Chul-Hyeon told the press that these meetings determined that GNP members would not go back to the floor unless their demands for an apology from President Kim Dae-Jung and the MDP, resignation of the prosecutor general and the deputy supreme prosecutor and the resignation of National Assembly Speaker Lee Man-Sup were met. He went on to say that if the MDP were to conduct parliamentary sessions alone under the chairmanship of Speaker Lee, the opposition party would resort to all means, passive or aggressive, to block the operation of the legislature.

The opposition party, in the meantime, decided to present a bill to amend the law on parliamentary hearings on the appointment of leading government officials to include a candidate for the prosecutor general among such officials as are covered by the law in order to ensure his political neutrality. The MDP called its supreme council and a meeting of the Democratic National Assemblymen at which its members affirmed that the bill for the impeachment of prosecution leaders lacked due legal requirements and also the need to seek active dialogue with the GNP to normalize the parliament as soon as possible. MDP spokesman Park Byeong-Seog said the people wanted the National Assembly to take care of urgent problems concerning the livelihood of the people now. Reemphasizing the precedence of these problems over partisan and strategic considerations, he urged the opposition party to return to the house floor immediately.

Chung Kyun-Hwan, floor leader of the Democratic Party, disclosed his plan to have his party members attend informal sessions of standing committees to prepare for speedy deliberation of pending economic and social issues upon the normalization of the National Assembly. During the meeting of assemblymen Rep. Han Hwa-Gap said the relationship between the ruling party and the government has to be proactively reexamined following the close of the current extraordinary assembly sitting. Emerging from the meeting with his fellow assemblymen, Rep. Kim Geun-Tae echoed the voice of Han by stressing the necessity for reviewing and revitalizing the party-administration relationship. Their remarks suggest the possibility of restructuring the government party and its ties with the executive branch.