Opposition Lawmakers Occupy Budget Panel By Lee Tae-hoon Staff Reporter Opposition lawmakers occupied the National Assembly Special Committee on Budget and Accounts' conference room Thursday to prevent the governing party from railroading the government's budget bill for next year. The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) took the measure as the Grand National Party (GNP) threatened to unilaterally launch a sub-panel on adjusting the budget if the DP continued to boycott deliberations.

Lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) block Rep. Shim Jae-chul, chairman of the National Assembly Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, second from left in the front row, preventing him from taking his seat, Thursday. DP lawmakers occupied the conference room to prevent GNP lawmakers from railroading the government’s budget bill for next year. / Korea Times Photo by Choi Heung-soo The parliamentary standoff showed no signs of subsiding even a day after the DP accepted a GNP proposal to hold a three-way meeting involving President Lee Myung-bak and the leaders of the two parties to resolve the budget impasse. Cheong Wa Dae welcomed the invitation, but said it would make a decision after the parties draw up an agenda. Some 40 DP lawmakers occupied the conference room at around 9:30 a.m., a half-hour before the session was scheduled to start. Chairman Shim Jae-chul of the GNP arrived with some 20 fellow GNP lawmakers but, physically blocked by DP legislators, was unable to chair the session. Scuffles and shouting took place until Shim managed to announce both the opening and adjournment of the meeting by banging the desk with his fist instead of a gavel. The GNP said it was required for the panel to be launched by Thursday in order for the Assembly to pass the budget this year. The Assembly was unable to meet the Dec. 2 deadline for deliberations on the spending plan scaled at 291.8 trillion won ($250.1 billion), mainly due to squabbles over expenditure for the four-river refurbishment project. Should lawmakers fail to deal with the budget before Jan. 1 when the fiscal year commences, government spending will be set at the same amount as this year, leaving new construction and welfare projects in jeopardy. Neither of the deputy floor leaders of the two parties, who met, budged an inch. Rep. Kim Jung-hoon of the GNP criticized the DP move, saying his party had already expressed its willingness to cut down expenses linked to the river project. Kim also demanded an immediate launch of the subcommittee, saying it should quickly proceed with deliberations on "ninety-nine percent" of the proposed spending, apart from to the contentious river project. However, Rep. Woo Yoon-keun, the DP's deputy floor leader, said that the party would not end the occupation unless the GNP or President Lee pledged to give up refurbishing the rivers, which he claims would account for more than 2 percent of the total budget. "It is obvious that the GNP will eventually railroad the budget once the sub-committee is formed," Woo said. Earlier in the day, a group of 12 lawmakers met to come up with a compromise. But it is unlikely that either of the leaders of the parties will accept any deal. leeth@koreatimes.co.kr