Curse Words Fly at Hearing On Ethics

Political parties are debating whether to turn over two lawmakers who shouted obscenities during a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday to the National Assembly's Special Committee on Ethics.

Rep. Song Young-jin of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party and Rep. Kwon Ki-sool of the opposition Grand National Party engaged in a heated argument during a Construction and Transportation Committee session.

Rep. Kwon charged that Mr. Song's questions were biased in favor of the Korea Land Corporation, which was testifying at the hearing. Both men quickly lost their tempers and started to call each other names.

"We'll ask for Rep. Kwon's opinion before moving to turn Rep. Song over to the ethics committee," said Chung Chang-wha, the opposition floor leader. Chung Kyun-whan, the ruling party floor leader said, "We'll make sure this doesn't happen again."

by Lee Yang-soo