GNP Waged All-Out Struggle Against the President, Having All Pending State Affairs Disrupted

Grand National Party chairman Choe Byung-yul began his hunger strike on Wednesday, urging President Roh to withdraw his decision to veto a special investigation bill which would look into allegations of misdeeds by his former close aides.

Furthermore, the main opposition party has already begun retaliations against the president for vetoing the controversial bill by boycotting deliberations of next year’s government budget proposal at the parliamentary budget committee originally scheduled to be completed before December 2.

There are also several essential issues to be cleared up at the parliamentary defense committee and parliamentary law committee meetings, including the additional dispatch of troops to Iraq and other political reform bills, but it is hard to expect such issues to be dealt with anytime soon.

Chairman Choe held a press conference prior to his hunger strike, saying President Roh should withdraw his decision to reject the bill for good of the nation. When asked to opt for another vote on the bill, however, Choe declined to comment specifically, saying, “It depends on the situation.”

The Grand National Party has launched a full protest against the president and refused to participate in the National Assembly. It will be waging an all-out political battle to pass the bill and carry out an overhaul in political reform in a total of 13 cities and provinces until November 29, starting with Inchon City and Julla province. The Millennium Democratic Party chairman Park Sang-chen urged to re-deliberate the special investigation bill in the National Assembly. He also reiterated that a full-fledged struggle outside the parliament is unconstitutional in any case, so they should re-deliberate the bill in a way that abides with the law and also respects the nation and the people.

Yeon-Wook Jung Sung-Won Park jyw11@donga.com swpark@donga.com