South Korea's conservative lawmakers blasted their liberal counterparts Wednesday for staging violent protests at the National Assembly, threatening to amend laws to oust legislators that paralyze the parliament by force, according to Yonhap News.
The National Assembly returned to normal Wednesday after opposition parties ended a 12-day sit-in protest to begin processing dozens of bills the ruling party says are needed to steer the country through the economic slump.
Democratic Party (DP) members had barricaded themselves in parliament, claiming the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) could use its majority force to push through laws. The GNP holds 172 seats in the 299-member parliament, compared with 82 for the DP.
"We promise to fix the law to prevent the National Assembly from becoming a stage of violence again," Hong Joon-pyo, GNP floor leader, said in a meeting of the party's supreme council, describing the protests as "Hollywood actions."
He also vowed to refer future such incidents to prosecutors to punish lawmakers who resort to violence.
Park Hee-tae, the GNP leader, also stressed that parliamentary violence must be "put to trial" by the people.
Throughout South Korea's history, opposition lawmakers have frequently resorted to sit-in protests to block legislation and violent clashes involving sledgehammers and fire extinguishers in parliament are not unusual.
Lee Hoi-chang, head of the ultra-conservative Liberty Forward Party, also labeled the DP as a "loser that trampled upon the spirit of parliamentary democracy."
He said that the Democratic Party tainted the nation's reputation by resorting to force and using sledgehammers and power saws in the National Assembly to achieve its goal.