Lawmaker to face ethics committee over tear gas bomb in Assembly chamber

  An opposition lawmaker, who detonated a tear gas bomb in the National Assembly's main chamber in protest at the free trade agreement with the U.S., will be sent before a parliamentary ethics committee over his use of violence during a vote, a conservative minor lawmaker said Thursday.

   The call for disciplinary action on Rep. Kim Sun-dong of the minor progressive Democratic Labor Party (DLP) came nearly 10 days after he used tear gas to block the ruling Grand National Party (GNP)'s unilateral move to put the long-pending trade pact to a floor vote in a snap parliamentary session.

   Despite his desperate attempt to block the bill's passage, it passed by a majority vote, mostly supported by ruling party lawmakers. Following the incident, which was televised nationally, the activist-turned-politician shot to popularity among anti-FTA protesters.

   Ruling party lawmakers and parliamentary officials condemned his extreme action and called for strong measures, but fellow lawmakers remained reluctant to file a suit or request investigators to launch an investigation for fear of a backlash in the midst of continuing rallies against the parliament's ratification of the trade deal.

   On Thursday, a group of 22 lawmakers, led by Liberty Forward Party legislator Park Sun-young, made a complaint with parliamentary ethics committee against Kim over obstruction of parliamentary speaker's order. It was the last day for bringing a suit against fellow lawmakers over violation of parliamentary rules.

   "Seeing nobody taking any action on the lawmaker who detonated a tear gas bomb, I am worried whether there is hope in this country," Park, a conservative female lawmaker, said.

   The DLP, backed by a strong farmers' association and labor unions, criticized the move to punish Kim.

   "If the lawmakers want to set order in the parliament, they should first file a suit against those who took the lead to railroad the Korea-U.S. FTA," vice DLP spokesman Shin Chang-hyun said in a statement.

   (Yonhap News)