Opposition holds on to tenuous alliance

By Lee Tae-hoon

With its eleventh-hour decision to boycott the plenary vote on a trade pact with the European Union, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) has staunchly decided to stay the course of a pan-opposition alliance.

Earlier, DP leaders had agreed with ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and government officials to ratify the Korea-EU free trade agreement (FTA), after some concessions from the latter on protection for livestock farmers and small businesses.

DP Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu and floor leader Park Jie-won had clearly expressed their support for the ratification of the FTA by stating satisfaction with the outcome of negotiations.

But on the day of the floor session, Wednesday, a revolt came from within the DP, from members such as Reps. Park Joo-sun and Chun Jung-bae, to oppose the accord.

Then other minor opposition parties joined in. The minor Democratic Labor Party pressed the DP to choose between an opposition coalition and the Korea-EU FTA.

Sohn, widely known as a proponent of the FTA, stepped back saying the vote should be delayed to prevent a rift within the party and to retain trust from other opposition parties.

The DP boycotted the vote. As a result, the plenary session slated to begin at 3 p.m. was convened at around 10 p.m. during which the 169 lawmakers present cast 163 votes for the ratification of the pact to one against and five abstentions.

Of them, 163 were GNP lawmakers, while the remaining six were either from the Future Hope Alliance or independent legislators.

Political observers say DP leader Sohn picked the opposition alliance over the FTA with the world’s largest trading bloc, which some 70 percent of the people support.

They say Sohn is well aware that an alliance among opposition parties will be a strong attraction, especially ahead of the general and presidential elections next year.

The DP and DLP, along with the New Progressive Party and People’s Participation Party, coalesced at the recent April 27 by-elections to field unified opposition candidates.

The result was a success with DP leader Sohn winning a National Assembly seat in the upper-middle class suburb of Bundang B in Gyeonggi Province and Choi Moon-soon of the DP elected as governor of Gangwon Province.

On Tuesday, eight progressive think tanks, including the Welfare State Society and Korea National Strategy Institute, announced they would form a network to produce policies for an opposition coalition.