Partisan row disrupts legislature's work on economy

By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Yonhap) -- Ugly scuffles and wrangling broke out between two rival
parties in the South Korean parliament Thursday, as it strove to pass next year's
budget within the few remaining days of its first regular session.
Passing next year's spending plan is the foremost task for the National Assembly,
as it will determine new measures on supporting low-income households and various
tax cuts. Parties have already missed the Dec. 2 legal deadline.
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) has been boycotting the budget review
sessions since Monday, refusing to back down from demands for the government to
revise the scope of the tax cuts and expenditures. It went further by announcing
it would abstain from all remaining parliamentary sessions beginning Thursday, in
a retaliatory move against the ruling Grand National Party (GNP)'s attempt to
pass the budget alone.
From early morning, dozens of DP lawmakers took turns in occupying the
parliamentary budget committee room, causing a fracas that involved harsh verbal
exchanges.
"We gave you enough time! Get out of our seats and let us do our job!" ruling
party lawmaker Lee Sa-chul shouted, trying unsuccessfully to get past opposition
legislators blocking the path to his seat.
Hopes had been pinned on the Assembly that it would be able to get back to the
business of policy-making when it convened in May after President Lee Myung-bak's
conservative party secured a comfortable majority in the April general elections.
Lee's GNP controls 172 seats in the 299-member unicameral legislature while its
main opponent holds 83.
But despite its dominance, the ruling GNP has been unsuccessful in convincing its
rival to cooperate in passing Lee's market-oriented economic initiatives. Nearly
2,000 bills, including the new year's budget, have been sitting untouched in the
Assembly as partisan confrontations continue.
Parties are likely to open an extraordinary session after Dec. 9, when their
official break begins, but many bills are still likely to be unsettled by year's
end.
"The parliament is holding back the economy," said Lee Yong-gul, head of the
Finance Ministry budget office. "If settling the budget is delayed any longer,
local governments won't be able to do their work, dealing a blow to private
companies and the working class."
Party leaders were unmoved.
"The Democratic Party does not have reasonable cause to oppose the budget plan,"
said Hong Joon-pyo, floor leader of the ruling GNP. "If they don't want to
cooperate, let them be. We don't have any more time to wait for them."
Under the GNP whip's orders, the ruling party also attempted Thursday to settle
separate bills on real estate, income and corporate tax cuts. Its rival
threatened to "cut off all negotiations" in response.
"The ruling party appears insincere," said DP whip Won Hye-young. "It says it is
willing to hold talks while trying to settle bills by itself. We can't negotiate
under such terms."
South Korea's 283 trillion won (US$193 billion) spending plan for next year calls
for sizable tax cuts and assumes an annual economic growth of 4 percent, far
above analysts estimates.
The liberal DP demands revision, claiming the planned tax cuts will widen the
income gap by mostly benefiting the rich and argues that analysts have forecast
South Korea's economy will grow by only 2 percent next year amid a global credit
crunch.
The South Korean parliament has passed the budget bill at the last minute every
year since 2003. The bill has been passed in the last week of December for six
consecutive years.
hayney@yna.co.kr
(END)