Third party may tip Assembly balance

With the National Assembly Law revision becoming a stumbling block in the way for parliamentary normalization, complaints have begun rising among the United Liberal Democrats.

This is because the ruling Millennium Democratic Party and the opposition Grand National Party were tacitly asking for the ULD's concession, saying that the ball had been thrown into its court.

In an executive council meeting Wednesday, Lee Yong-Joon, noting that the GNP floor leader is said to have asserted that if only ULD conceded, all disputes would be settled, asked who is blocking the opening of the Assembly session, while staging rallies outside the Assembly. Kim Hyun-Uk alleged that the MDP whip had kept silent on the matter, while his GNP counterpart was making such remarks.

Some conferees in the ULD caucus presented views that their party should grapple with the particular issue flexibly.

¡°There is no need for the party to beg for it (the law revision), but it had better run stark-naked rather than going in tatters,¡± Cho Il-Hyun said.

Nonetheless, these assertions are minority voices, and a majority of the council members were of the view that the party should not make any concessions. ULD acting president Kim Chong-Hoh stressed that as far as the floor negotiating group is concerned, there is no room for compromise.

Consequently, the council delegated full negotiating power to the party floor leader, Lee Yang-Hee.

But the time has come for the ULD to make a decision, as the ruling MDP and GNP have come close to an agreement that the contentious Assembly revision bill could be disposed of at an appropriate time, virtually overriding the ULD request for its disposition within the current regular session.

It is uncertain whether the ULD will comply with the MDP-GNP deal on the revision issue. But the party is faced with a dilemma, as it would take full responsibility for the prolongation of the current parliamentary impasse.

Lee Chol-Hi klimt@donga.com