Passage of Financial Scam-Related Bills Delayed
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
National Assembly Speaker Lim Chae-jung asked the two major parties Friday to complete deliberations on a bill to launch an independent investigation into a financial fraud scam allegedly involving front-running president candidate Lee Myung-bak by Monday.
If the two parties fail to reach an agreement by that time, the speaker will automatically invoke his power to introduce the bill before the plenary session, officials of the Assembly secretariat said.
A motion also presented by the United New Democratic Party (UNDP) to impeach three prosecutors who investigated the case is likely to be dropped Saturday due to a lack of support from other parties. If lawmakers fail to vote on such an impeachment motion within 72 hours after it is presented to a plenary session, the motion will automatically be removed.
Lim's decision came after three days of partisan wrangling which paralized the extraordinary Assembly session.
Lawmakers of the Grand National Party (GNP) tried to lock out UNDP legislators spearheading the bill and motion.
About 110 GNP lawmakers occupied the Assembly's main chamber to block their passage.
The UNDP sought to pass them by persuading either Speaker Lim or Vice Speaker Lee Yong-hee to invoke his power to table them, calling the occupation undemocratic.
``It was illegal that the GNP is occupying the Assembly's main chamber,'' UNDP floor leader Kim Hyo-seuk told reporters.
As the GNP nominee Lee enjoys more than double the support of his closest rival, the UNDP seeks to turn the tide.
Its candidate Chung Dong-young has assailed the former Seoul mayor in a desperate move to score a come-from-behind victory in the presidential race.
The former unification minister Chung recently overtook independent Lee Hoi-chang in popularity. According to a poll conducted by The Korea Times and its sister paper the Hankook Ilbo, Chung has 16.6 percent of support, while the conservative independent has 10.9 percent. The GNP nominee continues to lead the race with 41.7 percent.
Chung has insisted that the deceitful GNP candidate should drop out of the race, calling the current race a competition between corrupt forces and democratic, reformative forces. The former mayor is accused of stock rigging and phony registration of his residence, but the prosecution cleared Lee of the allegations.
The passage of the impeachment motion requires approval by more than half of the 299 Assemblymen. The UNDP has 141 seats in the legislature, while the GNP 128. The Democratic Labor Party and the Democratic Party has nine and seven seats, respectively.
The UNDP has joined hands with the labor party to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate allegations over the frontrunner's involvement in the case. The DLP, however, was negative about the impeachment motion.
Even if the motion is passed, it remains uncertain whether it can make the prosecutors resign because the last decision is up to the Constitutional Court, an attorney and columnist of The Korea Times said.
Sean Hayes who works as a law professor at Kookmin University in Seoul said, ``After passage of the motion, six votes at the court are needed to remove the officer from his office.
``The motion will not be passed, but if it is, because of the standard and more importantly the total lack of evidence, the court will not remove the prosecutors.''