South Korea's main opposition leader began a hunger strike yesterday, saying he would stop only if President Roh Moo-hyun lifted a veto of parliament's bid to name a special counsel to probe political funding scandals.
The protest by Choe Byung-yol, who leads the Grand National Party (GNP), raised tensions still further after Roh's decision on Tuesday to reject the bill from the opposition-led National Assembly just months before an April parliamentary election.
PHOTO: AP
"Choe Byung-yol will go on hunger strike from today at the party's headquarters until President Roh withdraws his veto," a GNP spokesman said by telephone.
The president argued that more time was needed for a separate funding inquiry by prosecutors that has expanded from a probe into some of his aides to take in opposition parties and business groups.
All 149 parliamentarians from the Grand National Party, which dominates the 273-seat single-chamber assembly, offered their resignation to Choe as an additional protest, the party said.
"GNP members have agreed not to attend the annual National Assembly session," a party official said.
That could hold up legislation in the remaining two weeks of this year's full session, notably next year's budget for Asia's fourth-largest economy. Domestic political tensions also do little to help resolve the North Korea nuclear crisis.
The spokesman said Choe was ready to debate with Roh on television. Roh is scheduled to appear on a talk show on Friday.
"Before proposing one-on-one talks, what he needs to do is to return to the parliament," a presidential spokesman told reporters. "Choe has engaged in blackmail politics by announcing outdoor protests. And now he's launching such an extreme political action as a hunger protest, unnerving the public."
After winning last December's presidential election, Roh came to power in February vowing to break the link between politics and the country's family-run "chaebol" business conglomerates.
But a close Roh aide is now under investigation for taking 1.1 billion won (US$915,000) from the scandal-tainted SK Group and other aides have been implicated.
Roh's opponents, who are spread among three parties and hold the two-thirds of seats necessary to override a presidential veto, vowed to fight him over the bill. But they have yet to say whether they would seek to overturn the veto in parliament.
Prosecutors investigating the fund-raising practices of political parties during last year's presidential election, in which Roh narrowly upset a conservative candidate, have raided units of South Korea's two largest chaebol.
On Monday, prosecutors turned up at a unit of the country's largest conglomerate, Samsung Group. Last week, they knocked on the doors of a unit of LG Group, with the similar aim of investigating links between politicians and business leaders.
In mid-October, after news emerged about his close aide, Roh called for a referendum on his rule and ordered the funding probe. The referendum proposal appears to have died a quiet death amid the scandal investigation and political squabbling.
The Grand Nationals say that only an independent investigator could hold an inquiry free of interference by the administration. Choe apologized last month when it was disclosed the GNP itself had received 10 billion (US$9 million) won from SK last year.
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