Ruling party vows to push controversial reforms amid parliamentary deadlock

(ATTN: COMBINES earlier stories slugged "parliament-media reform" and "ruling
party-irregular workers bill"; UPDATES throughout with lawmakers' comments,
background information)
By Shin Hae-in, Kim Boram
SEOUL, July 7 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak's ruling party vowed Tuesday to
unilaterally put to a vote controversial bills on media and labor regulations,
setting the stage for a showdown in the National Assembly.
Committee meetings have been crippled by boycotts and sit-in protests staged by
rival lawmakers since parliament opened an extraordinary session on June 26. The
liberal Democratic Party (DP) says Lee's reforms are pro-conglomerate and
sideline the underprivileged.
President Lee, a former CEO and strong believer in market principles, has sought
to amend regulations on media ownership and non-regular workers since his
inauguration in February last year. Lee believes they will spur competition and
bolster sectors he says are falling behind global trends.
After failing to compromise on the revision bills, the ruling Grand National
Party (GNP) said it will soon put them to vote with or without consent from its
largest rival.
Lee's GNP holds an absolute majority of 169 seats in the 299-member unicameral
house, while the main opposition DP controls 85.
"We have no other means but to ask the parliamentary speaker to invoke his
authority and put the bill to vote if talks fall through," GNP floor leader Ahn
Sang-soo said of the revisions to the temporary workers law. "What we need first
is to prevent massive layoffs, and only then we can seek fundamental solutions
and a social compromise."
The law, enacted in July 2007, requires employers to either lay off or fully hire
workers who stay at their company for two years.
The government and GNP have expressed concerns that up to 1 million non-regular
laborers could lose their jobs in the coming weeks, due to companies' reluctance
to take on new staff in hard economic times.
The ruling party managed last month to secure an agreement with two right-leaning
minority parties that would allow for a one-time, 18-month extension to the
irregular employment period.
The liberal DP opposes the agreement, saying they will only accept a final
solution that will ensure workers keep their jobs.
Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o made no direct comment on the issue, repeating only
that the rival parties should try harder to reach a compromise and asking
opposition legislators to end their sit-in protest outside the Assembly's main
chamber.
Also Tuesday, Rep. Na Kyung-won, a ranking ruling party legislator, said her
party plans to put a set of media bills to vote at the culture and media
committee by next Monday, despite the DP's objections.
The president and GNP seek to allow cross-ownership of print media and television
companies, which is currently barred under a law passed in the 1980s aiming to
prevent media monopolies.
Broadcasters and progressive activists call the plan pro-conglomerate, as only
three right-leaning vernacular newspapers -- which are already in control of
nearly 70 percent of the country's print media circulation -- are believed to
have enough resources to enter the television industry.
"It was our pledge to the public to settle the media law within this
parliamentary session," Na told reporters after meeting with her DP counterpart,
Jun Byung-hun, earlier Tuesday. "July 13th is our deadline. If the main
opposition is against this plan, it must come up with a reasonable
counter-offer."
The main opposition warned of "grave consequences" should Lee's party ram through
the bills.
"Talks cannot continue with the ruling party behaving so arrogantly," the DP's
Jun told reporters. "We will return to the discussion table only after the
Assembly speaker gives his word that he will not put the bills to vote without
our agreement."
hayney@yna.co.kr
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