Parties head for showdown over FTA

GNP likely to push Assembly vote on Korea-U.S. trade deal


A showdown between ruling and opposition lawmakers looms over the parliamentary ratification of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, as rival political parties showed little willingness to compromise.

The governing Grand National Party on Thursday decided to force the bill through, a move likely to lead to an ugly brawl among legislators on the parliamentary floor. 

“We shouldn’t allow any more delay (in the ratification of the FTA.) We have already accepted the opposition’s demand 100 percent,” Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, the GNP chairman, said in a meeting of party leaders.

“We will set out to handle the bill in accordance with the parliamentary laws,” he added.

GNP legislators were meeting in the afternoon to discuss the situation and devise an action plan for the bill’s ratification.

The ruling camp, although it holds a solid majority in the single-chamber parliament, hesitated so far to railroad the deal through, fearing a public backlash ahead of next year’s presidential and parliamentary elections. 

However, patience was seen wearing thin even among dovish members of the GNP after the main opposition Democratic Party on Wednesday rejected an offer by President Lee Myung-bak to seek revision of a key sticking point in the trade agreement.

The DP, instead, demanded written commitments from both Seoul and Washington about the renegotiation of the contentious clauses on the Investor-State Disputes settlement mechanism.

The conservative ruling bloc denounced the DP for its “obstinacy,” calling their demand an “insult” to Lee.

“I cannot but doubt whether the DP had any intention of negotiating, after looking at its response to the president’s offer,” said GNP floor leader Hwang Woo-yea, who had been calling on party members to have more patience for a smooth, non-violent passage of the FTA.

“We have reached a point where we need to take a painful decision.”

The DP said it would use all possible means to block the GNP’s move to unilaterally pass the treaty.

“The GNP will face a public backlash and disgust already-disillusioned voters, if it chooses a physical clash with opposition parties,” said Rep. Kim Jin-pyo, the party’s floor leader.

The Korea-U.S. FTA was signed in 2007 under the previous liberal administration of President Roh Moo-hyun. The Lee administration last year led a renegotiation of the deal at the request of the U.S.

The DP and other liberal groups claim that the balance of interest swung in favor of the U.S. during the renegotiation. They demand the ISD clauses, at the very least, should be removed from the agreement.

Lee and his GNP have been making a pitch to get the deal ratified after the U.S. Congress endorsed it last month.

The FTA bill has yet to clear a parliamentary subcommittee on trade. Opposition lawmakers and their aides have barricaded the committee’s main conference room to prevent the bill’s passage.

The next plenary session is scheduled for Nov. 24.

By Lee Sun-young
(milaya@heraldcorp.com)