KOREA: DP leader quits parliamentary seat

The Democratic Party leader says he will launch a campaign to invalidate the recently passed media bills when he leaves office

The Korea Herald
Saturday, July 25, 2009

By Cho Ji-hyun

Rep. Chung Sye-kyun, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, said yesterday he would discard his parliamentary seat in protest over the ruling party's unilateral passage of contentious media bills. "I will fight with the people to revive the democracy after giving up my legislative post," said Chung at a news conference.

He claimed Wednesday's passage of the media bills was invalid, saying, "The legislation through illegal voting and violence cannot be justified."

An aide to the DP leader later tendered the letter of Chung's resignation to National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o.

Rep. Chun Jung-bae, former DP floor leader, also submitted his resignation to the speaker.

Chung and Chun followed in the steps of Rep. Choi Moon-soon, a DP legislator who gave up his parliamentary seat on Thursday, holding himself and his party responsible for failing to block the passage of the media bills. Choi was a former head of local broadcaster MBC.

About 70 of DP's 84 lawmakers earlier handed over letters of resignation to Chung, who said he will later decide on whether to submit them to the Assembly speaker.

The resignation of a lawmaker takes effect through a parliamentary vote or if the Assembly speaker accepts the offer, the possibility of which observers say is very little.

Chung, who stopped his week-long hunger strike yesterday, will soon vacate his office at the Assembly before launching an all-out campaign to invalidate the passage of the media bills, party officials said.

Chung and other party members plan to join street rallies throughout the country until a regular parliamentary session starts in September, they said.

The bills passed Wednesday permit cross-ownership of print media and broadcast stations. The opposition party had argued the bills reflect the desire of President Lee Myung-bak and his Grand National Party to control the media market and will only benefit major conservative dailies and large businesses.

The DP filed petitions to the Constitutional Court on Thursday, calling for the nullification of the revised media laws.

The moves by DP lawmakers escalated bipartisan confrontation with the GNP as the National Assembly is set to end its extraordinary session today.

Wednesday's legislation, conducted amid violent physical clashes between ruling and opposition lawmakers, was quickly followed by allegations that some of the ballots cast during voting were submitted not by GNP legislators but by their aides or colleagues.

The ongoing dispute over the legitimacy of the legislation also revolves around a questionable re-voting on one of the three major media bills.

Vice Assembly Speaker Lee Yoon-sung, a GNP representative who chaired the Wednesday session, had declared the completion of voting on the disputed bill, but had to quickly call a re-vote after belatedly realizing that the first vote failed to meet the quorum.

The DP says the passage of a bill on a re-vote is invalid because the current law prohibits a second vote on any one legislation.

The ruling party claims there was no problem because the bill was never rejected but that the first vote simply did not have the quorum.

"The bill was not rejected, the vote just did not have a quorum, which means the vote did not even count in the first place," Rep. Cho Yoon-sun, GNP spokeswoman, told reporters.

Date Posted: 7/25/2009