National Assembly Set to Vote on FTA

The National Assembly plans to vote on the free trade agreement with Chile on January 8.

At a meeting hosted by Speaker Park Kwan-yong on January 7, floor leaders of the three major parties -- Hong Sa-duk of the Grand National Party, Yu Yong-tae of the Millennium Democratic Party, Kim Geun-tae of the Uri Party and Kim Hak-won of the United Liberal Democratic Party – agreed to the vote, which appear to take place in confidentiality.

The general secretaries and floor leaders of the parties also agreed to a one-day regular session before January 28 for a hearing on the candidate who will succeed Constitutional Court Judge Ha Kying-chol, whose term will expire soon. There will be no extra sessions in January.

The National Assembly will pass the children education bill and the infant and children education amendment, which have been the point of contention between the infant education and childcare industries.

The National Assembly will approve Yu Yong-tae as floor leader of the Millennium Democratic Party. Yu will succeed Chung Kyun-hwan who resigned from the post.

“We will pass a resolution for the re-launching of the ad hoc committee on political reform, whose term expired late last year. We will come with political reform amendments with ad hoc committee members on January 9,” Hong Sa-duk of the GNP told reporters. “We will promptly pass amendments on political funds and electoral regulations since we have already reached an agreement,” added Hong.

In related news, the Senate of Chile put the passage of the FTA with Korea on hold, citing lukewarm responses from Korea.

“We will review the FTA bill when a clear sign shows that Korea’s National Assembly will approve the bill,” said Senate President Andres Saldivar.

The agreement, concluded in February of last year when Chilean President Ricardo Lagos visited the country, has been approved in the Lower House of Chile. The National Assembly’s attempt to pass the bill was suspended in the face of protests by farmers on December 30. Once into effect, the FTA will remove tariffs on Korean-made automobiles, cell phones, computers, TVs, and air conditioners sold in Chile, and Chilean copper, animal feeds, wheat, tomato, wool, and aquatic products sold in Korea.

Min-Hyuk Park mhpark@donga.com