Parliament opens extra session amid dispute over reform bills

SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- The National Assembly was to open an extraordinary
session on Monday with rival parties expected to once again lock horns over
contentious bills and vetting of new Cabinet minister nominees.

The special session is scheduled to last about a month and comes after rival
parties failed to resolve differences over a long list of disputed bills,
including those on media and financial industry deregulation. Weeks of physical
confrontations and a sit-in by the opposition of the National Assembly had
ensued.
The confirmation hearing for the nation's new police chief-designate is also
expected to create a maelstrom of debate. Kim Seok-ki, named by President Lee
Myung-bak in January to head the National Police Agency, has been under pressure
to quit after six people died two weeks ago in a police raid on a building where
squatters were protesting urban redevelopment.
A special interpellation session regarding the incident is planned for next week.
Confirmation hearings for the new finance minister-designate and a new member of
the National Election Commission are also scheduled for Friday, while separate
hearings for the new unification minister-designate and chief of the National
Intelligence Service will be held early next week.
The ruling Grand National Party said it will push to pass 15 major bills,
including those on financial sector reform, punishment of lawmakers who use
violence in parliament and media industry reform that will allow large firms and
major newspapers to own television networks.
The main opposition Democratic Party will focus efforts on blocking the
GNP-sponsored deregulation bills and approval of the police chief-designate and
spy chief-designate Won Sei-hoon, former minister of public administration and
security.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)