Riot police used water cannons to disperse protesters outside South Korea’s national assembly yesterday amid a deepening political standoff over the ruling conservatives’ final push to seal a trade deal with the US.
About 2,000 people rallied outside parliament where members of a small far-left party have barricaded themselves in a committee meeting room to block a debate on a bill which would clear the way for final approval of the free-trade agreement (FTA).
The FTA, which some studies say could boost the US$67 billion two-way trade between the allies by as much as 25 percent, was approved by the US Congress last month and signed into law by US President Barack Obama.
Photo: Reuters
It had been expected to sail through the South Korean -parliament where the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) has a majority, but the opposition, buoyed by a landslide victory in a key by-election in the capital last week, has flexed its muscle and demanded changes to the deal, saying it is skewed in Washington’s favor.
A GNP deadline to ratify the pact passed on Tuesday.
Opposition lawmakers have stalled proceedings on the pact this week. They succeeded in blocking it again yesterday.
The conservative GNP, which has a comfortable majority in parliament, has been reluctant to push the bill through, wary of risking political damage before key elections next year where they could lose control of both the assembly and the executive branch.
The GNP’s leadership is also worried that forcing the pact through parliament could spark trouble in the main chamber.
Physical violence among lawmakers in recent years has included incidents of chair-throwing and fighting, prompting opposition and ruling parties last year to agree not to resort to violence.
The GNP has criticized the main opposition Democratic Party for trying to block a deal that was negotiated and signed when it was in power in 2007.
Democratic Party leader Sohn Hak-kyu pledged yesterday that the opposition would not back down until the bill is revised to fix an imbalance of national interests created when it was reworked last year to address US automaker concerns.
“If the government tries to force the free-trade bill through, we will fight to block it to the end,” Sohn said.
Despite charges that it gives the US auto industry a major inroad into the South Korean market, domestic car makers stand to gain from greater access to the US.
US farmers are also expected to be big winners under the agreement, with more than US$1.8 billion a year in increased exports to South Korea.
The deal is the biggest US trade pact since the North America FTA went into force in 1994.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS