DP, GNP agree to new negotiations over prickly bills

The Democrats and the Grand Nationals continued to exchange blows ahead of agreed-upon negotiations for a series of media industry reform bills and the non-regular workers’ protection statute.

While the warring lawmakers have agreed to discuss these sensitive bills, which have paralyzed the National Assembly for weeks, they look far from striking any deals.

Park Byeong-seug, chief policy maker of the Democratic Party, said yesterday that his party will accept a proposal from Grand National floor leader Ahn Sang-soo for negotiations on the media reform measures.

On June 28, Ahn suggested that the two parties’ chief policy makers and chief representatives on the Culture, Sports, Tourism, Broadcasting and Communications Committee meet to discuss the bills.

“No date is fixed yet, but I guess the appropriate time will be Monday,” said Park.

In March, the ruling and opposition parties agreed to a 100-day cooling-off period before taking up controversial media reform measures.

The agreement avoided - or at least delayed - a violent clash in the main chamber of the legislature.

Based on the agreement, the media industry reform bills were scheduled to be voted on during the June session.

But the Democrats have demanded reconsideration of the bills’ contents, claiming the measures will pave the way for local conglomerates and newspaper companies to overly influence TV news by allowing them significant stakes.

Accepting the GNP’s proposal to meet, the Democrats said yesterday they want to review the bills again and conduct an opinion poll.

“The negotiation should not be abused as a justification for the GNP to pass the bills. The GNP must come to the negotiations with an open mind,” Park said.

The Grand Nationals, however, said they want to stick to the already agreed-upon timetable, demanding the bills be voted on before the end of the current legislative session.

With the media industry reform bills still in the air, the GNP and DP floor leaders agreed to sit down today to strike a deal on the non-regular workers’ statute.

Although the warring parties said they want candid talks, it is unclear whether a compromise will be reached.

The conservative political parties of the National Assembly - the GNP, the Liberty Forward Party and Pro-Park United - have already agreed on a plan to extend the implementation of the non-regular workers’ protection statute by 18 months, fearing the prospects of mass layoffs.

They also agreed on the creation of a special committee to address the issue.

“Please agree with the compromise bill, so that there will be no more non-regular workers losing jobs,” said Ahn. “I will do anything to resolve this issue.”

GNP Chairman Park Hee-tae also said he will act to end the stalemate.

“If this issue cannot be resolved at the standing committee, then I, as the head of the party, will step up my efforts,” Park said in an interview with KBS Radio.

“When the National Assembly hit a dead end over the media industry reform bills in February, I met with DP Chairman Chung Sye-kyun and found a way out,” Park added.

But prospects for today’s meeting remain dark. “Without the two umbrella unions’ agreement, we will not agree to any proposal to extend the grace period of the non-regular workers’ statute, not even by six months,” said Ooh Che-chang, a spokesman of the party.

By Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr]