National Assembly Weakens President’s Amnesty Power


By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
The National Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill to set up a special committee that will inquire into pro-Japanese collaborators during Japan’s colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. The passage was made in an overwhelming 151-2 vote with 10 abstentions, as the conservative Grand National Party (GNP) dropped its opposition.

However, the Assembly haggled over whether to increase the number of proportional lawmakers by 10 or freeze it at the present 46. Earlier, the parties agreed to opt for a 10-seat increase but their agreement didn’t hold for long.

The majority GNP insisted on a freeze, while the pro-government Uri Party and the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) pushed for an increase. Last week, the Assembly increased the number of elected lawmakers by 16 to 243.

With the newly enacted law on the final full session of the 16th National Assembly, the President will create a nine-member special committee in September after getting the National Assembly’s recommendations to investigate pro-Japanese, anti-national activities.

It’s the first time for the government to have such a committee since 1945 when a similar commission carried out a fact-finding mission but ended it with no clear result. The new committee’s three-year mission will round up after publishing a report.

``With the passage of the bill, we are now be able to better establish the country’s legitimacy,’’ said the bill’s introducer Kim Hee-sun of the Uri Party. ``Our historical consciousness has been foggy due to a lack of effort to find out the real truth of the past.’’

The bill, however, is considered not enough to bury the past as it was revised several times to reflect conservative lawmakers’ demands.

A vivid example was the decrease to the minimum of the number of suspects by raising the rank of Korean officials, who served for the Japanese imperial army, from officer to high-ranking officer.

Some lawmakers worried that the bill could entangle late President Park Chung-hee and his daughter Park Geun-hye, who is now tapped as the next leader of the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP).

The current Assembly officially expires on May 29. It has passed about 2,200 bills over the past four years. However, 800 other bills, which have awaited attention for a long time, will automatically be repealed in May.

In a separate development, the majority party said it is considering holding an emergency National Assembly within this month to seek an impeachment procedure against President Roh. The party also said they are considering boycotting the April 15 general elections.

The GNP’s gambit came after reports that prosecutors may open investigations into the heads of the district party chapters, who allegedly used more than 100 million won ($83,000) during the 2002 presidential election campaign.

The GNP fears these investigations will further tarnish the party’s image and adversely affect its chances of winning in the parliamentary polls.

GNP lawmakers argued that the prosecution is employing unfair investigations into their party and said the 100-million-won mark set by the prosecution is an ``excuse’’ not to investigate the pro-government Uri party which did not exist in 2002.

``We will seek to call an extraordinary session to chastise the prosecution’s unfair investigation,’’ said floor leader Hong Sa-duk.

The fifth-term lawmaker told reporters that the party will decide whether to seek the impeachment procedure against President Roh after watching the National Election Commission’s (NEC) expression of its stance on Wednesday on the allegation that the head of state violated election laws by openly supporting the Uri Party.

Hong’s remarks were echoed by GNP chairman Choe Byung-yul, who said the party will not respond to any form of prosecutors’ investigation and will resist to the end by using all possible means.