Ruling party goes ahead with unilateral parliament session

SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) -- The country's rival parties were put on a collision
course Tuesday after the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) ignored the
opposition's protest and unilaterally sought the opening of a parliamentary
session.
The GNP said it submitted a request to convene a month-long extraordinary
parliamentary session from Friday, a day after President Lee Myung-bak pressed
for swift action to revise a law on non-regular workers -- a move he said will
help prevent mass layoffs.
"The most urgent task is to improve working conditions for non-regular workers,"
the president said Monday in a meeting with his senior secretaries at the
presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.
The government says hundreds of thousands of non-permanent workers could lose
their jobs next month unless the revision is passed before then.
Under the current law, which was enacted in July 2007, temporary workers must
either be let go or officially hired as permanent employees after two years at the
same company.
"We will make sure that every standing committee is convened from the 29th, so we
ask our party members of each committee to do their best in handling pending
bills," GNP floor leader Ahn Sang-soo told a party meeting earlier Tuesday.
An Assembly session can be convened three days after a request from the president
or one-fourth of all registered legislators.
The ruling party controls a majority of 169 seats in the 299-seat parliament.
Tuesday's request was also supported by seven other members of a pro-government
minority party and independents.
The National Assembly was earlier scheduled to convene an extraordinary session
from the beginning of the month, but it was postponed after the death of former
President Roh Moo-hyun, who took his own life on May 23 amid an intensifying
corruption probe into him and his family. Roh's supporters have claimed the
investigation was politically motivated.
The main opposition Democratic Party vowed to block any Assembly activities until
the government and the ruling party first meet its five demands, which include an
apology from President Lee Myung-bak over the former president's death, as well
as an immediate withdrawal of the labor law revision and other government-backed
bills that it said are "evil."
The opposition party quickly denounced the latest GNP move as disrespectful of
democratic rules and norms.
"I urge the GNP to seriously think about whether it really is time for it to act
as a mere tool of the president," party chairman Rep. Chung Sye-kyun said.
"I believe this is when we must fight until we do or die," he said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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