Assembly Will Revote on Special Counsel Bill Today

Floor leaders of the three major opposition parties, Rep. Hong Sa-duk of the Grand National Party, Rep. Chung Kyun-hwan of the Millennium Democratic Party and Rep. Kim Hak-won of the United Liberal Democrats gathered on December 3 at the National Assembly, agreeing to revote on the special counsel bill allowing an investigation into the president’s close aides. The revote, which was previously vetoed by President Roh Moo-hyun, will occur during a plenary session of the National Assembly at 2:00 p.m. on December 4.

The three floor leaders also decided to deal with a budget plan for next year just after the voting on independent counsel bill.

Floor leader of the Uri Party, Rep. Kim Geun-tae, who wasn’t able to attend the meeting due to an appearance at a local event, delivered a message to follow the three floor leaders’ decision.

As a result, the crippled National Assembly is expected to operate normally for the first time since the GNP’s boycott on November 24.

In a briefing after the meeting, Rep. Chung of the MDP said, “The Assembly will also run the standing committees for special political reform, national defense, education, reunification, foreign affairs and trade and industrial resources, in an effort to settle a pile of pending issues including political reform, Buan city conflicts, controversy on the national college entrance exam, additional troop dispatch to Iraq and the like.”

However, Rep. Hong of the GNP added, “We reached a consensus to normalize all the functions of the National Assembly on the assumption that the result of vote should be the same as the GNP’s goals.” But he said that this plan could not be guaranteed if the special counsel bill is rejected, hinting that the political situation could be derailed again if the outcome of revote is negative.

The GNP held its general meeting in the headquarters at 2 p.m., ratified the agreements from the earlier meeting among the floor leaders of the four parties and agreed to vote on re-approval of the independent counsel bill.

The Millennium Democratic Party (60 seats) and the United Liberal Democrats (10 seats) have each already met and resolved to support the special counsel bill in case of a revote. As such, the re-approval process on the special counsel bill, which is backed up by the strong ties of three major opposition parties, is expected to pass without difficulty. The revote on the special counsel bill will be passed if half of the total registered lawmakers attend the vote and more than two-thirds of the attendees favor the bill.

On the other hand, the Uri party plans to hold its members meeting just before the plenary session on December 4 to discuss countermeasures against the decision.

Yeon-Wook Jung jyw11@donga.com