Confrontation at South Korea’s parliament over a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the US showed no sign of easing yesterday, as some opposition lawmakers took to the streets while others continued sit-ins.
Police had fired water cannons on Thursday to disperse about 2,300 demonstrators who tried to force their way into parliament in protest against the pact.
The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) is seeking quick ratification of the long-delayed agreement after the deal sailed through the US Congress last month.
The GNP has a solid majority, but is reluctant to ram the bill through and provoke possible physical clashes for fear of a voter backlash before next year’s general and presidential elections.
Opposition lawmakers are blocking GNP attempts to approve the deal in parliament’s trade committee, occupying the main chamber of the committee on and off from Monday. The occupation continued yesterday.
When passed by the committee, it must go to the full house for approval.
About 20 lawmakers, led by chairman Sohn Hak-kyu of the main opposition Democratic Party, distributed leaflets to passers-by at a subway station near parliament yesterday, wearing sashes inscribed with slogans.
“As more people became aware of the drawbacks of the free-trade agreement, there are mounting voices against the deal,” Sohn told journalists. “There is no reason for the government to be in a hurry to have it ratified.”
The main point of contention is the “investor-state dispute” settlement system that allows disputes between investors and the state to be settled under the mediation of a third party.
Opposition parties say the system could infringe on the country’s legal independence. The government says such a system is a global standard and is part of earlier South Korean trade pacts.
The GNP accuses the Democratic Party of hypocrisy for trying to block a deal negotiated when it was in power.
The opposition says the pact was skewed in favor of the US when changes were made last year to address complaints from US automakers.
Far from the violence ravaging Haiti, a market on the border with the Dominican Republic has maintained a welcome degree of normal everyday life. At the Dajabon border gate, a wave of Haitians press forward, eager to shop at the twice-weekly market about 200km from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They are drawn by the market’s offerings — food, clothing, toys and even used appliances — items not always readily available in Haiti. However, with gang violence bad and growing ever worse in Haiti, the Dominican government has reinforced the usual military presence at the border and placed soldiers on alert. While the market continues to
An image of a dancer balancing on the words “China Before Communism” looms over Parisian commuters catching the morning metro, signaling the annual return of Shen Yun, a controversial spectacle of traditional Chinese dance mixed with vehement criticism of Beijing and conservative rhetoric. The Shen Yun Performing Arts company has slipped the beliefs of a spiritual movement called Falun Gong in between its technicolored visuals and leaping dancers since 2006, with advertising for the show so ubiquitous that it has become an Internet meme. Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in
ONLINE VITRIOL: While Mo Yan faces a lawsuit, bottled water company Nongfu Spring and Tsinghua University are being attacked amid a rise in nationalist fervor At first glance, a Nobel prize winning author, a bottle of green tea and Beijing’s Tsinghua University have little in common, but in recent weeks they have been dubbed by China’s nationalist netizens as the “three new evils” in the fight to defend the country’s valor in cyberspace. Last month, a patriotic blogger called Wu Wanzheng filed a lawsuit against China’s only Nobel prize-winning author, Mo Yan (莫言), accusing him of discrediting the Communist army and glorifying Japanese soldiers in his fictional works set during the Japanese invasion of China. Wu, who posts online under the pseudonym “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo,” is seeking
‘SURPRISES’: The militants claim to have successfully tested a missile capable of reaching Mach 8 and vowed to strike ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported on Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official, but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine. However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the