Proclaim Independent Counsel Law first!

President Roh Moo-hyun is scheduled to declare his position on whether to veto the independent counsel bill for probes into the secret cash transfer to North Korea at a Cabinet meeting at 3:00 on March 14.

Floor leaders of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) and the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) plan to have a meeting to negotiate the MDP`s revision version of the independent counsel bill earlier that day. However, it is uncertain that they could reach an agreement because the GNP is strongly opposed to the revision itself.

Cheong Wa Dae had a senior staff members` meeting to review the outlook for the scheduled meeting between the two rival parties` floor leaders on Thursday afternoon and to discuss whether to veto the bill, but they failed to come to a conclusion.

"If the president vetoes the bill, it will cause a heavy political burden so the case for taking cautious attitudes still prevails," a Cheong Wa Dae official said. "We are exploring a lot of ways including vetoing the bill followed by the rival parties` having renegotiations and passing the bill into law first and having negotiations over the revision of the law."

"The GNP is saying it will not budge from its stance while the MDP is suggesting the revision of the bill. Therefore, this situation will lead to exercising veto power first and discussing the MDP revision version," Ryu In-tae, senior secretary for political affairs, said, leaving open the possibility to exercise veto power at a gathering with reporters.

Mr. Ryu also discussed negotiation strategies for the scheduled meeting with Chyung Dai-chul, head of the MDP.

Meanwhile, the GNP, which controls a majority of the National Assembly seats, issued a statement at its supreme council meeting, which urged "passing the bill first and having negotiations," saying "The independent counsel will decide on the matters that the president is concerned about regarding the independent counsel bill in a reasonable and wise manner considering national interest."

"If unexpected problems arise in the process of the independent counsel investigation, the ruling and opposition parties can have talks with serious attitudes considering national interest and public opinion at any time," GNP spokesman Park Jong-hee said.

On the other hand, the MDP has decided to stick to the current party position against the independent counsel investigation into the payoff scandal involving the North but to have negotiations with the GNP at a senior member meeting.

Jeong-Hun Kim Jong-Hoon Lee jnghn@donga.com taylor55@donga.com