Provincial officials blast opposition party members over FTA

Municipal and provincial officials affiliated with the main opposition Democratic Party pressured party leader Sohn Hak-kyu in a supreme council meeting Monday, blasting his positions on the free trade deal with the U.S. and the integration of opposition forces.

Seven heads of provincial and city governments who are party members attended the meeting, including Incheon Mayor Song Young-gil and Gangwon Province Gov. Choi Moon-soon.

○ Differences over ratification of free trade deal

Sohn said the meeting will be held behind closed doors and skipped an opening speech, expressing regret over the budget and people’s livelihood being buried by the political impasse over the free trade agreement. His intention was to prevent internal dissension over the accord from being exposed to the outside, as certain mayors and governors have publicly urged the party to pass the ratification bill.

South Jeolla Province Gov. Park Joon-young predicted a heated debate when he said the governors and mayors will express various opinions on the issues.

They agreed on opposing the ruling Grand National Party’s unilateral passage of the ratification bill but were split over the deal`s ratification itself.

“The FTA is Korea’s strategy for survival and economic breakthrough,” Incheon Mayor Song said. “The investor-state dispute settlement system is the same as agreed by the Roh Moo-hyun administration. Demanding the abolition of the system is equal to insisting that Korea not pursue free trade.”

He also proposed that the party send a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative, urging a pledge to partially revise the investor-state dispute settlement system.

South Chungcheong Province Gov. Ahn Hee-jung warned against a "good-or-evil debate" over the country’s strategy for free trade. Saying Korea has agreements on investor-state dispute systems with most other countries, he criticized the opposition party’s hardline opponents of the agreement, including party chief Sohn and supreme council member Chung Dong-young.

Considering Korea’s heavy dependence on international trade, Ahn said the country should pursue free trade while taking sufficient measures to protect the domestic agricultural and livestock industries, which are deemed vulnerable to market opening.

○ Moves toward creation of new party incur criticism

The governors and mayors also criticized Sohn for “flaws” in his pursuit of the integration of opposition parties but basically agreed with the integration.

Incheon mayor Song opposed the creation of a new party, urging the Democratic Party to maintain its self-esteem and balance. While he put priority on reforming the party first, certain observers said his comments reminded them of former President Roh’s criticism of Sohn.

In March 2007, Roh criticized Sohn for bolting from the then opposition Grand National Party because of his slim chance of winning the party’s presidential nomination.

Ahn said he sympathized with the cause of the opposition`s integration but the Democratic Party should be at the center. “Former President Kim Dae-jung expanded the party’s boundaries but never colluded with other parties,” he said.

Park Joo-sun, a supreme council member of the Democratic Party, said the moves to create a new party are “collusion” that harms the party. “This is tantamount to disintegrating an elephant and giving it to frogs. Those who seek to create a new party should leave the Democratic Party to do so.”

Sohn is said to have decided to put to vote a proposal to create a new party by holding a party convention on Dec. 17 to avoid a legal dispute over the procedural legitimacy. He is considering requiring his party’s central committee to deliberate the proposed integration with other parties, though the general convention has the authority to do so under its regulations.

The decision was apparently affected by the move by heads of the party’s regional committees to submit Tuesday a request for a general convention. If the convention fails to approve the proposed integration, another convention with integration partner parties will be canceled.

jin0619@donga.com