Ruling Party Intent on Bringing Assembly Back on Track

The persisting deadlock between the ruling and opposition parties is continuing to cripple the 18th National Assembly, which was inaugurated a month ago.

The National Assembly may be tarnished with the dishonor of failing to elect legislature leaders including the speaker for the first time in the nation’s 60 years of constitutional history, if it does not open before July 4, the last day of the extra session.

Grand National Party (GNP) floor leader Hong Joon-pyo and United Democratic Party (UDP) floor leader Won Hye-young met Sunday morning to discuss each other’s demands related to the opening of the National Assembly and selecting the chairs of standing committees. However, the two sides failed to reach common ground.

Hong held a press conference in the afternoon and urged the prompt opening of the National Assembly to the opposition party. He said, “The visit of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the National Assembly slated for July 4 must go ahead as scheduled, and we should be able to send out invitations to leaders of around 100 nations to the ceremony honoring the 60th anniversary of the founding of the constitution on July 6 at the latest. Furthermore, we need to sign the bill containing measures against the high oil prices into law so that it can take effect from July 1, distributing the benefits of oil tax to our citizens.”

However, Won has continued to sit in for all-night vigils since Friday evening in front of the main chamber of the National Assembly, demanding the invalidation of the government’s announcement on U.S. beef import conditions. He said, “Attendance at the National Assembly is completely up to the ruling party, which means that it must come up with groundbreaking ideas on its part. Last time on Jeju Island, I said half-jokingly that we will attend by July 17, the Constitution Day, but at this pace it may be delayed until Aug. 15, the Independence Day.”

Many projected that the main opposition party will continue to boycott the National Assembly since hardliners within the party have stiffened their defiance ahead of the party’s convention slated for July 6 and many UDP lawmakers have personally participated in the candlelight protests.

In response, some in the ruling party voiced out the need for selecting legislature leaders before July 4 even if it means unilateral attendance. Although the GNP planned to decide on unilateral attendance in a general meeting of the lawmakers on Monday, it postponed the meeting to the next day with an aim to operate more dialogue channels between the two parties’ leaders depending on how the UDP responds.

Pro-Lee Myung-bak assemblymen within the ruling party and the non-parliamentary party council chairman will meet at a restaurant in Shinchon, Seoul, Monday evening to engage in an in-depth discussion on how to bring the crippled National Assembly back on track. One pro-Lee lawmaker said on the phone on Sunday, “We decided to have the meeting to find ways to bring parliamentary operation back to work at a time when violent protests threaten law and order and economic woes are aggravating the livelihood of our people.”

When the UDP decides to drop the boycott, the two parties may be able to select the National Assembly speaker for the time being, but forming a specific team of legislature leaders will likely occur at a much later date, which means it will take some time before the National Assembly is normalized to write into law the measures to help the livelihood of the people and discuss pending bills such as the one regarding the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement.

jkmas@donga.com koh@donga.com