Assembly Breaks Up In Gridlock; Ruling Party Vows a Boycott

The Millennium Democratic Party, which with the help of its coalition partners, passed its version of Human Rights Act on Monday, is reportedly re-examining its floor strategy.

The landmark act, the highlight of President Kim Dae-jung's reform program, was enacted on the last day of the parliament's 220th extra session, paving the way for the launching of an independent committee on human rights in November.

But passage of the bill took every one of the 137 seats controlled by the coalition in the 273-seat National Assembly to beat the version proposed by the opposition Grand National Party. The three independents, Representatives Kim Yong-hwan of Korea New Party, Kang Chang-hee and Chung Mong-joon, voted for the opposition's bill, while abstaining from voting on the government's bill.

"We will look to win over the three representatives for the sake of stability in politics," a ruling party insider said.

In addition, the Millennium Democrats are expected to boycott the May session, where two other reform bills and the opposition-driven proposal to oust Prime Minister Lee Han-dong are expected to advance to the floor. The opposition on Tuesday vowed to press ahead with its plans in May, portending a long shadow in Yeouido.

Monday's wrangle was the first between the recently forged coalition and the opposition. Arguing about whether to depose Prime Minister Lee gridlocked the session's last hours, automatically binding over the two reform bills to the next session scheduled for May.

The no-confidence measure, which held Mr. Lee accountable for the police violence April 10 at Daewoo Motor Bupyeong factory, came to a vote about 10:00 p.m. on Monday. Out of 115 Millennium Democrats, only 78 voted; the rest walked out. One of the two members of the Democratic People's Party, Rep. Han Seung-soo, voted. All 20 legislators of the United Liberal Democrats, the prime minister's party, abstained. All 133 lawmakers of the opposition Grand National Party cast their votes.

Opposition lawmakers denounced the coalition's voting tactics as the death of parliamentarianism, shouting that the ruling party was allowing only its trusted members to vote.

Speaker Lee Man-sup, a Millennium Democrat, was about to begin counting votes when the opposition demanded that he disclose which legislators had not voted. The speaker refused and the opposition walked out, killing the no-confidence measure and the remaining reform bills for the session.

by Lee Yang-soo