All GNP Lawmakers Vow to Tender Resignations

As the main opposition party Grand National Party (GNP) decided to boycott the legislative activities of the National Assembly and all GNP members decided to tender their resignations in protest to President Roh Moo-hyun’s veto of the special counsel probe of corruption allegations against his close aides on Tuesday, a head-to-head confrontation between Chong Wa Dae and the opposition parties will likely escalate.

Such decisions are feared to make the government suffer a vacuum in administrative power as it will not only cripple the National Assembly’s regular session which ends on December 6, but also will suspend crucial pending agendas like next year’s budget bill and the Korea-Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA). In addition, it will likely hinder the passing of the political financing system reform bill which was planned to be settled by the end of this year.

“A special counsel bill is supposed to be accepted only when the persecuted party avoids investigation or a prosecution probe falls short of expectations. Hence, it is inappropriate for me to accept the bill since the relevant cases are being investigated by the prosecution,” President Roh Moo-hyun said on Tuesday morning during the Cabinet meeting in Chong Wa Dae.

“The prosecution’s right to carry out independent investigations does not merely mean the prosecution is independent from the president’s power, but it also means that the persecuted party should be protected from oppression of the majority party in the Assembly. The decision is important, because we should not leave a bad precedent in handling state affairs and laws,” President Roh emphasized. The president also said, “If the National Assembly does not review the vetoed bill, the government would submit its own bill to the Assembly to investigate the aides after the prosecution probe ends.” President Roh also reiterated that he will take responsibility for his actions after such proposed procedures and hold a referendum on his leadership after the investigation on his aides is finished.

In response, GNP lawmakers handed in resignations to the party leadership in an emergency meeting convened on Tuesday afternoon, and party chairman Choe Byung-yul decided to go on hunger strike from Wednesday morning at the party headquarters. In addition, the GNP not only boycotted Assembly activities since Monday afternoon but also plans to intensify its strife gradually by mobilizing all possible measures, including submission of resignations of all GNP lawmakers to the Assembly.

Prior to this, Choe held an emergency countermeasure meeting with the two other most influential party leaders and other members of the GNP and proposed President Roh to have a one-on-one TV forum with him, calling president`s rejection of the bill, "an act of violence against democracy,"

The independent counsel bill, which is now returned to the National Assembly, needs half of the incumbent lawmakers to attend and over two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto in parliament to make the bill a law, while it requires to be passed before May 29, 2004, when the term of the 16th National Assembly ends. Otherwise, the vetoed bill will be nullified.

Yeon-Wook Jung Jeong-Hun Kim jyw11@donga.com jnghn@donga.com