National Assembly unlikely to hold first session amid row between rival parties

The new National Assembly is unlikely to convene its first plenary meeting scheduled for Tuesday as the ruling and main opposition parties continue to squabble over who will control key parliamentary committees.

The 300-member parliament began its four-year term last week and was scheduled to formally open with a plenary meeting Tuesday.

However, the main opposition Democratic United Party looks likely to boycott the session, saying it cannot open parliament without agreement on how to formulate the committees.

The formal election of the parliamentary speaker and vice speakers is also expected to be postponed.

The impasse raises concerns the new legislature could remain idle for months as the last Assembly did. It was nearly three months after its term began that the previous parliament reached agreement on committee formation and began normal operations.

A similar situation is sure to spark strong public criticism that the rival parties are bent on fighting for their own political gains without caring for the general public at a time of economic difficulty compounded by growing worries the eurozone financial crisis could spread.

The rival parties are in agreement that the ruling Saenuri Party will take control of 10 out of the 18 parliamentary committees, with the main opposition DUP taking the other eight.

This became possible after the DUP backed down from an earlier demand that both parties should chair nine committees each.

They still remain widely divided on which committees each party should head, however.

The DUP is demanding control of one of the three key committees

-- national policy, land or culture - that the ruling party controlled in the previous Assembly.

The ruling party says that demand is unacceptable. Instead, it has proposed giving up either the foreign affairs or the defense committee in exchange for chairing the judiciary committee, which the opposition party formerly headed.

The DUP says it cannot give up the judiciary committee.

Other issues that could further complicate the stalemate include how to deal with two left-leaning members of the minor opposition Unified Progressive Party. Reps. Lee Seok-gi and Kim Jae-yeon have been under pressure to step down over findings their party's primary voting was rigged.

The two have also been under fire over their alleged leanings to North Korea.

The ruling party has called for cooperation from the DUP to oust the two lawmakers from parliament. The opposition party suggested last week it could agree to such an expulsion motion, asking the two to voluntarily give up their parliamentary seats.

The two major parties have another disagreement over an opposition demand that the National Assembly launch an investigation into suspicions the government spied extensively on civilians. The DUP has also demanded a parliamentary probe into prolonged walkouts at major media firms.

The ruling party says it can exercise flexibility on the opposition demand for an investigation into the surveillance scandal, but the demand for an investigation into the media firm strikes is not acceptable. (Yonhap News)