Parliament to normalize this week as opposition party ends boycott

SEOUL, July 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's main opposition party said Sunday it was ending a six-week-long boycott of parliament in an effort to block a ruling party move to railroad a series of "evil" bills, including one that calls for media reforms.

The decision by the Democratic Party (DP) will normalize the National Assembly on
Monday, but it's highly uncertain that the one-house legislature would proceed
smoothly because of wide differences in the positions of rival parties.
"We have decided to attend the Assembly sessions and resume discussions with the
ruling party this week," a DP official said after attending a meeting of top
party leaders.
The opposition party, the official said, is particularly opposed to a bill that
will lift a ban on cross-ownership of television networks and print media.
The DP began a boycott of an extraordinary Assembly session called by the ruling
party on June 1 as a show of its opposition to the media and other controversial
bills which it claims to be pro-conglomerate.
President Lee Myung-bak, a former CEO and strong believer in market principles,
has sought to amend regulations on media ownership since his inauguration early
last year. Lee believes those reform bill, if passed, will spur competition and
bolster sectors he says are falling behind global trends.
After failing to compromise on the revision bills for several weeks, Lee's ruling
party warned last week it will put those pending bills to vote with or without
consent from its largest rival.
Lee's party holds an absolute majority of 169 seats in the 299-member Assembly,
while the main opposition DP controls 84. The remaining members are either
independents or belong to minor opposition parties.
The president and his ruling party seek to allow cross-ownership of print media
and television companies, which is currently barred under a law passed in the
1980s to prevent media monopolies.
Broadcasters and progressive activists say the measure would create oligarchs, as
only three right-leaning newspapers -- which are already in control of nearly 70
percent of the country's print media market -- have enough resources to enter the
television industry.