South Korean legislators are set to open parliament after a weeks-long opposition boycott, politicians said yesterday, amid hopes that protests over the resumption of US beef imports are dying down.
The new parliament elected in April was supposed to open on May 30. But the opposition, backing demands made at mass rallies, boycotted the legislature to press demands for a renegotiation of the beef deal with Washington.
Parliamentary leaders of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and the main opposition Democratic Party, formerly known as the United Democratic Party, agreed late on Tuesday to put the National Assembly back on track.
“We have agreed to elect the National Assembly Speaker on Thursday [today] and hold the opening ceremony the following day,” the parties said in a joint statement.
The GNP, which won an overall majority in the assembly in April, agreed two key opposition demands — amendment of a law on preventing livestock epidemics and the opening of a probe into the beef deal.
“This is a victory for the people who have been staging candlelit protests over the past two months,” Democratic Party parliamentary leader Won Hye-young told party leaders.
South Korea suspended US beef imports in 2003 after a US mad cow case but agreed in April to resume them.
Critics argue the conservative government of President Lee Myung-bak rushed into a deal to sweeten the atmosphere of his first summit with US President George W. Bush, without enough safeguards.
Mass protests flared up and Seoul had to send negotiators to Washington to obtain extra health safeguards. On Monday Lee sacked three ministers.
Workers have started returfing Seoul’s City Hall plaza, the favorite venue for rallies, after weeks of damage by protesters. It will be off-limits for most of this month.
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