(EDITORIAL from the Korea Herald on Jan. 30) - An extra session

The opposition Democratic Party vows to focus on a recent clash between police and tenants that killed six people when the National Assembly opens a special session on Monday. It is certainly necessary to make an inquiry into the claim that the police used more force than warranted when they dispersed the tenants, who were demanding greater compensation for eviction from a district set for
redevelopment.

The harsh crackdown on the unauthorized protest may deserve to be one of the
major agenda items. But it cannot be the dominant one, as demanded by the
Democratic Party. There are many other issues of great concern to the electorate
that must be dealt with during the upcoming month-long session - with the pursuit
of an early economic recovery being placed at the top of the list.
Lawmakers that are just back from their Lunar New Year constituency work
invariably report that the major voter concern was the economy. They say they
found voters were gripped by a loss of hope and a sense of crisis over declining
income and dwindling jobs - evidence that the financial crisis was making inroads
into the real economy.
Indeed, one indicator after another points to economic deterioration at a faster
pace than during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. For instance, the mining and
manufacturing industries are in worse shape. Their combined output in November
fell 14.1 percent from a year ago, the largest since January 1970.
Corporate performances also indicate the economic conditions are worse than
previously anticipated. Samsung Electronics, Korea's flagship company, sustained
an operating loss of 740 billion won ($541 million) during the final quarter of
last year.
Moreover, an early rebound is in doubt. Gross domestic product, which posted a
5.6 percent drop from the third quarter to the last quarter, is forecast to
sustain a sizable fall in the first half of this year as well. Many economists
say Korea will find it difficult to export its way out of the crisis as it did in
1997-98, because the financial crisis is spread throughout the world, instead of
being confined to Asia.
As such, the National Assembly will have to speed up deliberations on pending
tax-cuts and spending bills, instead of dragging its feet in the face of the
opposition's obstructionist strategy. It is the government that will have to
increase spending on big-ticket public works and research-and-development
projects to kick-start a recovery.
If the rival political parties fail to exercise moderation in the operation of
the upcoming special session, they will turn the main hall of the National
Assembly and standing committee rooms into battlegrounds, as they did during the
latter part of the regular session in December. Plenary and committee sessions
were marred by the use of violence as lawmakers resorted to physical force in the
attempt to pass government-initiated bills or block their passage.
But self-control appears not to be in the cards of the Democratic Party, which is
jockeying for position ahead of the opening of an extra session. The opposition
party, which is determined to gain the most out of the police crackdown on
tenants, says it will demand an apology from President Lee Myung-bak and the
dismissal of the minister of public administration and security and the Seoul
metropolitan police commissioner from their posts. It also says it will seek an
inquiry by independent counsel into the case while blocking the passage of
government-initiated bills.
The Democratic Party is going against what its members found during the Lunar New
Year holiday were the wishes of the electorate. Instead, it will do well to
facilitate deliberations on the bills for their early passage. An inquiry into
the death of five tenants and a police officer is a separate issue.
(END)