Assembly opening main session

The National Assembly opens today for its 100-day main session. Analysts are forecasting that sharp partisan wrangling will dominate the issues of whether important bills on political reform should be passed and whether the free-trade agreement with Chile should be approved by the legislative body.
One of the first issues to test the sharp partisan divide will be the motion to oust Kim Doo-gwan, the minister of government administration and home affairs. The opposition Grand National Party drafted the motion, saying he is responsible for attacks by the banned student group, Hanchongryun, on a U.S. forces firing range in Korea and their party headquarters. Opposition party officials said that they will vote on the motion no later than Wednesday, even if they have to exercise their large 153-seat majority in the 273-seat legislature by requiring all Grand Nationals to vote on it. Several members of the governing Millennium Democratic Party, speaking on condition of anonymity, have said that they will have to physically bar the Assembly’s speaker, Park Kwan-yong, from opening a plenary session on Wednesday despite the promise of the ruling party’s chairman, Chyung Dai-chul, not to use force.
The governing Millennium Democratic Party is embroiled in intense internal strife concerning its future course. Following Thursday’s failed meeting of the ruling party, the party has agreed to hold a meeting of its officials on Thursday, but political analysts forecast that the meeting may result in the end of the party and the start of a new one. Meanwhile, the opposition Grand National Party’s leadership is experiencing internal tumult, with younger Grand Nationals calling for generational change while targetting the party’s elders.

by Lee Sang-il