By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said Tuesday that its 84 lawmakers will resign en masse if the governing party railroads controversial media bills, which would allow conservative dailies and chaebol to "control broadcasting."
The move came amid predictions that Speaker Kim Hyong-o would invoke his right to table the bills to help the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) pass them during the current National Assembly session, which ends Saturday.
If Kim tries to table the bills Thursday or Friday, the DP said it would use all means possible to block the move.
If the bills are railroaded against their wishes, all lawmakers, aides and staff members will step down, leaving the legislature unable to function, it said.
A mass resignation would put Korea into unprecedented political chaos. The Assembly would be without lawmakers from the largest opposition party, dealing a blow to the Lee Myung-bak administration.
Since its inauguration in February last year following a landslide victory, the Lee administration has been unable to pass major reform bills, despite the governing party commanding a comfortable majority.
DP Chairman Chung Sye-kyun, now on the third day of a hunger strike, believes that if pro-government conservative dailies have a major stake in broadcasting, the governing camp will control public opinion, thus allowing the governing party to prolong power.
Chung said the opposition party would then have little chance of winning future elections if the dailies control broadcasting networks.
The DP leadership said a last-minute compromise was possible as long as the bills exclude the three largest daily newspapers, and chaebol from controlling broadcasting networks.
Rep. Ooh Che-chang said that it would be difficult for the DP and the GNP to reach compromise before the session ends because of their deep differences.
"Should Kim table the bills to help the GNP vote on them, we, DP lawmakers, will tender our resignation en masse," Ooh said.
"The negotiations are an all-or-nothing game because the key issue is whether the three major newspapers and chaebol should be allowed to own television and cable news networks," said Ooh.
"One is to win, while the other is to lose if a bipartisan agreement is made. Therefore, a compromise will deal a blow to those who fail to secure their interest in the negotiations. It is highly likely that inter-party negotiations will not lead to a compromise," he said.
His warning came after floor leaders of the two sides met in a last-ditch effort to reach an agreement.
Rep. Ahn Sang-soo met his DP counterpart Lee Kang-rae again, but no breakthrough was made.
The GNP calls for allowing the newspapers and chaebol to own up to a 20-percent and 49-percent stake in national television and cable news networks, respectively.
But the DP opposes the plan, insisting neither big three newspapers nor large businesses should be allowed to control them.
As the two sides have been unable to compromise, Ahn was known to have proposed an alternative proposal, which says the conservative newspapers and chaebol would not be allowed to own stakes in television news broadcasters, but should be permitted to have stakes in cable news networks.
DP floor leader Lee, however, opposed even this compromise plan.