Parties set for more talks on voting deadlock

SEOUL, Jan. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's rival parties were expected to restart
negotiations Tuesday on ending a voting standoff over hotly contested bills,
including a trade deal with the U.S., amid an on-going sit-in at the National
Assembly.
Hopes of a compromise were dashed after a meeting of partisan negotiators on late
Monday failed to bridge differences over when to put to vote ratification of the
Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) and some 80 other government-initiated
bills as the parliament's extraordinary session nears its end.
"We couldn't find common ground as the Democratic Party (DP) kept changing its
word," Hong Joon-pyo, the ruling Grand National Party's (GNP) floor leader, said
after the meeting on Monday.
"The parties basically discussed what their stances were and what they could
offer (for bargaining)," DP floor leader Won Hye-young said as he walked out of
the meeting. The group agreed to hold another round of talks later in the day,
according to Won.
Tensions climaxed over the weekend when fierce clashes erupted between officials
from the opposition and security guards who tried to end a sit-in of parliament
by the DP and the Democratic Labor Party. The scuffle inside the Assembly
building left 53 guards injured and one opposition lawmaker with a minor injury
to his arm.
If the DP lawmakers are removed, the GNP could easily pass the disputed bills as
it holds 172 seats in the 298-member National Assembly.
South Korea and the U.S. signed the FTA in 2007, with studies suggesting the
agreement would increase their two-way trade of US$78 billion by 20 billion in
the coming years. The U.S. Congress has yet to ratify the pact.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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