Parliament to form consultative bodies for trade deal, livelihood

By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, June 17 (Yonhap) -- The ruling and opposition parties agreed to form consultative bodies with senior government officials to discuss the pending free trade deal with the United States and measures to improve people's livelihood, party officials said Friday.
The vice floor leaders of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP) and the left-leaning Democratic Party (DP) held a joint conference to unveil detailed plans to work together through special parliamentary bodies.
The free trade agreement (FTA) consultative body will be composed of 10 lawmakers -- five from each party -- and the ministers of finance, economy, farm and trade to discuss the ratification process of the trade deal and safeguard measures for local industries.
The trade pact, signed in 2007 and supplemented last December, passed the Cabinet earlier this month, but it has yet to be presented to the parliament.
While the GNP is trying to introduce the bill within this month to seek parliamentary approval, the DP is against endorsing the accord, claiming it favors the U.S.
The U.S. Congress has not yet ratified the pact either.
The body on people's livelihood will handle such economic measures as college tuition fees, commodity prices and employment. It will include the ministers of finance, labor and education.
The parties also unveiled a plan to establish a special investigating committee to probe snowballing scandals involving corrupt savings banks.
The scandals center on corrupt savings banks seeking the influence of high-level politicians and senior officials in exchange for bribes in an attempt to avoid punishment for extending illegal loans and a string of other irregularities.
ejkim@yna.co.kr