Opposition Parties Vote for Extension of Teachers` Retirement

The education committee of the National Assembly is planning to pass a bill to extend the retirement age of teachers from current 62 to 63 today but New Millennium Democratic Party opposes the bill.

Education Committee Chairperson Lee Kyu-Taek, expressed his plan to pass the bill yesterday after hearing about the extension of retirement age of teachers, saying "the ruling and opposition parties agreed to present the issues and come to a vote for the revised bill at a general meeting on 21st after having a hearing."

However, NMDP set a party`s position that "parties need to have some more time to re-consider the matter since the worries about the side-effect are growing." and proposed Lee Jae-Oh, floor leader of the Grand National Party, to postpone the vote for a while.

Rep. Lee Jae-Jung (NMDP) declared that NMDP "will express clear objections against the bill if GNP forces to pass the bill." But in terms of the possibility of a physical interruption, he said "no decision is made."

The United Liberal Democrats and GNP presented revised bills to extend the retirement ages to 63 and 65 respectively and the two parties agreed to cooperate for the pass of the ULD`s bill. The education committee is composed of 8 GNP and 1 ULD lawmakers, and 7 NMDP lawmakers, anticipating the pass of the bill when it comes to a vote.

Sung-Won Park swpark@donga.com