GNP willing to form parliamentary fact-finding body on ship sinking: floor

(ATTN: ADDS comments from main opposition lawmakers in paras 8-11)
By Tony Chang
SEOUL, April 5 (Yonhap) -- The ruling party said Monday it was willing to
cooperate with the opposition for a parliamentary probe into last month's naval
disaster as the National Assembly opened a month-long session most likely to be
seized by political wrangling over the incident.
"There can be no opposing parties when it comes to matters of the country's
security. As demanded by the opposition parties, (we) will cooperate on launching
the National Assembly's fact-finding group," Ahn Sang-soo, floor leader of the
Grand National Party (GNP) said in his plenary session speech.
"(We) will thoroughly reveal the cause of the accident, any problems in (the
Navy's) initial response and in the search and rescue activity," Ahn said, adding
that his party will demand the government bring those responsible to account.
The 1,200-ton Navy corvette Cheonan broke in two and sank in the Yellow Sea after
an unexplained explosion on March 26. Fifty-eight of the 104 crew members were
rescued from the vessel as it sank, but the others went missing. One of the
missing sailors was found dead Saturday in the stern of the sunken ship, leaving
45 unaccounted for.
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and other splinter groups are demanding
the immediate setup of a parliamentary investigative body, with some accusing the
government of hiding some of the facts surrounding the sinking of the ship, one
of the country's worst naval disasters in history.
More than a week after the sinking, military authorities have not yet confirmed
the cause. While they say chances of North Korea's involvement are low, they have
not ruled them out entirely.
President Lee Myung-bak in his biweekly radio address Monday said the government
will not rush the investigation "at the expense of accuracy," especially given
the international community's keen attention on the incident.
But DP members, while pressing hard for the firing of the defense minister and
the Navy chief of staff, questioned the president's crisis management ability.
"I'm suspicious whether the president can lead the military with confidence,"
Park Joo-sun, the party's supreme council member, said. "I wonder if the
president, the commander-in-chief, is not getting falsified information."
Song Young-gil, another council member, claimed the credibility of the government
and the military has "hit the bottom."
"If the defense minister and the naval chief are retained during the
investigation, then the probe will not be thorough," he said.
Ahn said the GNP, after a fully accounted investigation, will seek to modernize
military equipment and establish a military-government-private emergency rescue
scheme for national emergencies.
On other agendas, Ahn proposed that the parliament initiate constitutional
revisions after the local elections on June 2.
A National Assembly advisory body last year proposed revising the Constitution to
replace the current five-year single-term presidency with a semi-presidential
system or a U.S.-style four-year presidency with a maximum two terms, and
relegate the president's power to the prime minister and the parliament.
The last amendment to the Constitution was made in 1987.
Ahn asked that the DP cooperate in forming a parliamentary constitutional reform
committee at the earliest date.
"We must build the (legal) groundwork for the country's next 100 years by
complementing and improving upon the 1987 system," he said.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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