Young lawmakers to push NSL revision

A group of 10 lawmakers of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), including Reps. Jong Bum-Goo and Lee Ho-Woong, held a meeting Monday and agreed to promote the revision of the National Security Law (NSL) during the current extraordinary session of the National Assembly. Rep. Kim Keun-Tae, an MDP vice president, also said in press conference that the NSL revision should be dealt with through cross-voting at the parliamentary plenary session.

The MDP legislator's statement is identical to the party policy line on the controversial revision, yet the proposed timing of the step is different from that given earlier by party chairman Kim Joong-Kwon. Kim said the revision might be deferred until after the North Korean Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-Il's proposed Seoul visit, thus leaving open the possibility of intra-party friction over the legislation.

Jong disclosed that MDP members had agreed to provide a joint draft law revision with the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) and push ahead with the law's parliamentary passage through a free vote regardless of the timing of the North Korean leader's Seoul visit. Lee noted that the first-term lawmakers agreed on the need for the change, saying that the NSL infringes on human rights and should therefore be revised as soon as possible, irrespective of the position of the party leadership.

The young MDP lawmakers are scheduled to meet with their counterparts at the opposition GNP Wednesday to discuss the content of the revision and the timing of its submission to the Assembly.

Countering the move, Kim said the ruling MDP should work out an official party revision bill but that a free vote on the bill needs to be conducted and party lawmakers should be encouraged to take part. He added that this would make it more likely that the revision bill would pass.

Moon Chul fullmoon@donga.com