By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

The roles of the governing and opposition parties are not distinct in the government's decision to seek additional negotiations with the United States over the beef deal signed in April, political analysts say.

Ordinary citizen-led anti-U.S. beef import campaigns have propelled the government to make efforts to fix the deal that irritated the public due to the risk of mad cow disease.

Analysts say that a power struggle inside the governing Grand National Party (GNP) and the diminished role of the largest opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) might be two core factors explaining the disappearance of parliamentary politics in a key agenda facing the nation.

A power struggle embroiled the governing party in a war of blame games over the source of President Lee Myung-bak's mismanagement of the nation.

GNP floor leader Hong Joon-pyo warned in a strong tone Friday that party leaders would not sit idle if any lawmakers are attempting to destabilize the embattled President or the party with divisive words.

Power Struggle Within GNP

Hong's warning was aimed at Rep. Chung Doo-un who initiated the power struggle by denouncing Rep. Lee Sang-deuk, President Lee's elder brother, in an interview about a week ago.

Chung said Rep. Lee was deeply involved in filling out key government posts with ineligible figures. Rep. Lee dismissed the allegation, claiming he had never wielded his influence in the selection of Cabinet ministers as well as presidential secretaries.

The feud became intense as a group of 20 lawmakers of the party, who were first elected to the National Assembly in the April 9 elections, joined the dispute.

They called Chung a divider, claiming he should stop attempting to put the party as well as the President in peril with inappropriate comments lacking sufficient evidence.

Chung reacted he would fight to the end to fix the malfunction of cronyism in key decision-making posts.

Floor leader Hong intervened in the feud, and warned the two sides. ``Rep. Chung should stop producing divisive comments, and Rep. Lee also needs to be careful so that his demeanor or remarks do not cause unintended political results.''

GNP lawmakers said the fact that Lee is a brother of the President could cause people to spurn unnecessary speculation of his motive and demeanor.

Diminished Role of Opposition Party

The UDP, meanwhile, is dealing with a formidable challenge of its diminished role in crucial national agendas such as the deal to resume imports of U.S. beef.

``We need to know that there are people raising skepticism of the role the opposition party has played in the key issues. The people expected us to have taken the initiative in settling the political deadlock, but we didn't,'' said UDP Co-chairman Sohn Hak-kyu Friday.

Previously, a main opposition party was regarded as an active player in organizing political rallies and campaigns in an attempt to get what they wanted by mobilizing the public.

But this time, the role of the largest opposition UDP was extremely limited in addressing the beef issue, which was instead replaced by grass-root citizens, having arranged the protests through the Internet and mobile phones, observers said.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr