GNP agrees to meet Roh, but not to yield on counsel

The Grand National Party said it would meet President Roh Moo-hyun to discuss the bill on naming an independent counsel to look into charges that the Kim Dae-jung administration bribed North Korea to bring about the inter-Korean summit. But it said it would not consider any amendments.
President Roh wants changes to the special counsel bill passed by the National Assembly last week, overturning his previous announcement that he would not veto the bill, which was supported by the GNP and the smaller United Liberal Democrats.
Park Hee-tae, acting chairman of the GNP, yesterday interrupted Rhee Q-taek in mid-speech, when Mr. Rhee mentioned that he opposes the president’s visit to GNP headquarters to discuss the independent counsel bill. President Roh told Mr. Park on Tuesday that he would visit the opposition headquarters. He had visited the opposition party as president-elect before his inauguration, but his predecessors never visited an opposition headquarters while in office.
Mr. Park said he would meet President Roh, but added that the GNP has no intentions of amending the bill.
Yoo Ihn-tae, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, said the president wants to cooperate with the GNP, the majority party in the Assembly, on pending issues. “Cooperation with the opposition is badly needed to ensure smooth government operation,” Mr. Yoo said. Blue House officials said they would meet GNP officials this weekend to fix the date of the president’s visit.

by Park Sung-hee