President rallies party support for revived bills

By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak reached out to ruling party
legislators Monday to push forward his reform bills that have failed to pass the
National Assembly due to strong protests by the opposition.

Lee met with the leadership and other senior members of the Grand National Party
(GNP) in what the presidential office called a regular meeting between the
president and ruling party legislators, but was in fact unlike any other meeting
since the Lee administration was inaugurated nearly a year ago.
The luncheon meeting coincided with the opening of a special parliamentary
session scheduled to continue until early March.
Lee's approval rating, which reached near record highs after his inauguration,
has since plummeted to about 30 percent amid a looming economic recession and a
three-week standoff at the National Assembly over the controversial government
reform bills labeled "evil" by opposition parties.
At the heart of the standoff was a proposed bill that seeks to allow ownership of
broadcasting companies by private firms and major dailies.
The president claims the bill will help create tens of thousands of jobs and
raise the country's status in the newly emerging market for IT-based mass media.
The opposition maintains the bill would seriously undermine the independence and
objectivity of broadcasters.
Park Geun-hye, former leader of the GNP and campaign rival of President Lee, also
attended the meeting, despite comments last month saying she believes the
media-related reform bill is "bad." Her remarks apparently echoed her late father
and former President Park Chung-hee, who while in office opposed ownership of
broadcasting companies by newspapers.
"The keywords for the meeting were understanding and harmony between the
presidential office and the party, and the 57th birthday of (former) leader Park
Geun-hye," Lee Dong-kwan, a spokesman for the presidential office, told
reporters.
"The economic obstacles now ahead of us can only be overcome if the government
and the party join forces. Now is a time when we must concentrate all our energy
and strength," the president was quoted as saying at the meeting.
Lee reiterated last week his defense of the media reform bill during a nationally
televised roundtable, refuting suspicions that the government was trying to take
control of broadcasting companies.
Last month's parliamentary standoff came to an end after the ruling party agreed
to discuss contentious bills, including the media reform plan, with opposition
parties before putting them to a vote.
Apparently forced to seek greater support from the ruling party, the president
last week tapped a GNP lawmaker as his new public administration minister despite
an earlier pledge not to appoint a politician to the post which he said should be
reserved for an expert, particularly in the face of the looming economic
recession.
Lee repeated his gloomy outlook for the year.
"How our economic condition will look at the end of the year depends entirely on
the government and the ruling party. We must work with an attitude that we will
take unlimited responsibility if we fail," Lee said, according to his spokesman.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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