S. Korea's parliament gets poor grades amid gridlock: poll

SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) -- A majority of South Koreans gave the nation's
parliament poor grades for allowing economic reform bills to remain deadlocked
for months over political scuffles, a poll showed Tuesday.
The survey found that the National Assembly received an average performance score
of 40.7 points on a 100-point scale, the Federation of Korean Industries, the
nation's largest business lobby, said in a statement.
The survey of 800 South Koreans showed that 76.6 percent of respondents gave
scores of between 40 and 60 points for the parliament's activities in the first
six months of this year.
The single-chamber parliament has remained dysfunctional for months, with rival
parties fighting over a 2007 law that contains a clause requiring employers to
decide whether to permanently hire or lay off millions of temporary workers on
their payrolls.
The requirement went into effect July 1 without bipartisan agreement on a
long-term solution, raising the prospect of mass layoffs. The ruling Grand
National Party had sought a two-year delay in the enforcement of the requirement,
while the main opposition Democratic Party insisted such a move would only
prolong the issue.
Other contentious bills include easing non-financial firms' ownership limits in
financial holding companies and an approval of a free trade agreement with the
United States.
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