Troubles during the Normalization of the Assembly

Although the ruling and opposition parties had discussed the normalization of the extra session of the National Assembly during a conference of the floor leaders held under the supervision of Kim One-ki, the speaker of the National Assembly, the parties have not reached a conclusion yet.

Kim Duk-ryong, the floor leader of the Grand National Party, made the party’s position clear, saying, “If the Uri Party promises to handle the ‘four major bills’ through common consent, we will attend the assembly.”

However, Chun Jung-bae, the floor leader of the Uri Party, requested that “the agreement bill on the extension of troop dispatch to Iraq” be resolved during the day, and to normalize the deliberation on the budget bill for 2005 within this year, along with the negotiation of the matters concerning the “four major bills.”

Immediately after the negotiation broke off, the Uri Party summoned a general meeting and attempted to approve “the agreement bill on the extension of troop dispatch to Iraq” unilaterally. However, as Speaker of the National Assembly Kim One-ki showed his disapproval, the attempt failed.

Also, during the general meeting of the assembly members, the Uri Party decided, as a party opinion, to approve “the agreement bill on the extension of the troop dispatch to Iraq.”

Young-Chan Yoon yyc11@donga.com