Opposition partially disbands sit-down, makes room for talks

SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Yonhap) -- Opposition lawmakers partially disbanded their
occupation of the National Assembly on Monday, opening room for talks following a
10-day sit-in aimed at blocking bills initiated by the ruling party and the
government.

Members of the Democratic Party (DP) ended their sit-in protest at the entrance
of the main hall of the assembly earlier in the day on National Assembly Speaker
Kim Hyong-o's promise Sunday that he would not invoke his authority to put those
bills to vote without cross-party compromise.
DP lawmakers, however, were still occupying the assembly's main hall, The party
will consider ending the protest "at an appropriate time," party Chairman Chung
Se-kyun said during a radio interview with SBS earlier in the day.
Some 20 aides and staff members of the minor Democratic Labor Party, refusing to
end their sit-in at the entrance, were frog-marched out of the building by
security officials.
The National Assembly's special session has been deadlocked for more than a week
with hundreds of opposition lawmakers and aides blockading the ruling Grand
National Party (GNP) from railroading through some 80 bills, including a disputed
free trade pact with the U.S., before the current session that ends Thursday.
The tension climaxed over the weekend in fierce clashes between officials from
the opposition and security guards who tried to end the protest. The scuffle
inside the Assembly building left 53 guards injured and one opposition lawmaker
with a light arm injury.
"The GNP has to respond (to the opposition) through talks," Chung said, in an
apparent note of GNP floor leader Hong Joon-pyo's refusal to hold talks with the
head of a minority partisan negotiation group last week.
The ruling and opposition parties have been particularly at odds over the free
trade deal with the U.S. and seven bills that would allow mainstream newspapers
and business conglomerates to buy an influential stake in terrestrial
broadcasters.
If the DP lawmakers are removed, the GNP could easily pass the bills as it holds
172 seats in the 298-member National Assembly.
South Korea and the U.S. signed the free trade agreement in 2007, with some
studies suggesting that it would increase their two-way trade of US$78 billion by
20 billion in coming years. The U.S. Congress has yet to ratify the pact.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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