NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SAVES TOUGH ISSUES FOR FUTURE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 003408

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/10/2014
TAGS: CH KN KS PGOV PINR PREL RS
SUBJECT: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SAVES TOUGH ISSUES FOR FUTURE
SESSIONS


Classified By: POL M/C Joseph Y. Yun. Reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: In the National Assembly (NA) session, which
ended on November 23, Korea's parliament approved several
controversial bills, but left the KORUS FTA and the Iraq
troop deployment extension for later sessions. Possibly the
most controversial of the bills passed was a proposal --
vehemently opposed by conservationists -- to turn a massive
land reclamation project into an industrial park. Meanwhile,
the 2008 budget did not make it out of committee before the
session ended, and will likely be put forward for a plenary
vote in the special session, expected to be held in late
December. Both the KORUS FTA and the decision on extending
the Zaytun deployment of troops to Iraq were postponed for
future sessions, with neither the conservative GNP nor the
liberal UNDP motivated to discuss such politically sensitive
legislation with just over three weeks left until the
December 19 presidential election. End Summary.

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Samsung Probe
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2. (C) On November 23 the Assembly passed a bipartisan
proposal to appoint an independent counsel to investigate
alleged irregularities by the Samsung Group. The bill
specifies areas of investigation including the alleged bribes
of politicians and methods of lobbying. The two most
politically sensitive accusations involve alleged bribes to
prosecutors and alleged "congratulatory money" paid to
President Roh Moo-hyun after his 2002 election. President
Roh has denied the charges, but he announced on November 27
that, because of the overwhelming NA support, he would not
veto the legislation. A veto would have precluded further
action until after the presidential election, however, now
the issue runs the risk of becoming a campaign issue for
progressives -- who criticize the GNP's historically close
relationship to big business -- and for conservatives -- who
will point to allegations of progressive President Roh's
corruption.

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Reclamation Transformation
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3. (SBU) On November 22 the National Assembly approved the
government's controversial bill to transform a reclamation
project on South Korea's west coast into a special industrial
zone. The government created the land in 2005 by building a
massive seawall. Originally intended to be farmland, the
ROKG later decided to turn the 28,300 hectares of land
(almost 70,000 acres, just shy of 5 times the size of
Manhattan) into an industrial zone for foreign investors.
The reclamation project has been the subject of much
controversy with environmentalists and local residents
concerned about the potential for environmental damage. The
controversy was exacerbated by the reclamation project's
location in the North Jeolla province, an area historically
anti-government. The Supreme Court last year ruled in favor
of the government, enabling it to build the seawall and
ending the nearly 5-year dispute between the Agriculture and
Forestry Ministry and activists.

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FTA Postponed but Beef Traceability Enacted
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4. (C) Both the GNP and UNDP remain lukewarm on the KORUS
FTA, saying follow-up measures to buffer the impact on
domestic industries like the farming industry should be put
together before they can take any action on the bill. The
bill has been pending at the NA for over two months now, and
is not yet on the agenda of the Foreign Affairs & Trade
Committee, which has to approve the bill before it can go
forward for a plenary vote. Nonetheless, February
ratification of the KORUS FTA is still a possibility. In the
meantime the NA did pass the Act on the Traceability of
Cattle and Beef, which will assign ID numbers to each beef
product so authorities can take quarantine action more
effectively in case of disease outbreak and prevent any
"fake" origin of beef products. Although the legislation
will have no specific impact on the imports of U.S. beef, it
was likely brought about by the drafters' desire to keep a
close eye on beef products -- both domestic and imported.

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Peacekeeping Pending
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5. (C) Legislation to set out rules for deploying
peacekeeping missions is still pending in the Foreign and
Unification Affairs Committee. The purpose of the bill is to
set out the rules for peacekeeping operations (PKO) missions
(excluding troop contribution to multinational coalition
forces). The bill would require the ROKG to get NA approval
before deployment and renewal and to report annually on the
status of such deployments. The bill also provides for
establishing an inter-agency consultative body to coordinate
missions. Although there is nothing particularly
controversial about the bill, it does give the ROKG more
leeway with deployments by allowing it to bypass the NA is
some cases. Consequently, progress is slow. Interlocutors
have also been quick to point out that this legislation
affects neither the Iraq nor Afghanistan deployments.

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Zaytun Decision Delayed Until December
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6. (C) The National Assembly announced earlier in November
that it would convene a special session after the election to
consider the extension of the South Korean troop deployment
to Zaytun, Iraq. This extraordinary session will likely be
held in December, though there has been no word yet on
specific timing. UNDP leaders sought to avoid publicly
highlighting the "discrepancy" that would have been apparent
if the bill were approved while the party's candidate for
president, Chung Dong-young, was on record as opposed to it.
The bill is still in the Defense Committee, where our vote
count indicates a total of 10 GNP and Democratic Party (DP)
members in support of the extension, with 8 UNDP members
opposed. Composition of the plenary body, however, indicates
142 votes in favor of the extension and 150 opposed, with 7
swing votes up for grabs.

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Overseas Korean Voting Rights
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7. (SBU) The Constitutional Court ruled the Election Law
unconstitutional for not giving voting rights to overseas
Koreans. However, the court's decision gave the NA until the
end of 2008 to revise the relevant provision in the law,
apparently considering the possible confusion a sudden change
might cause in this presidential election and in the 2008
general elections. (NOTE: Although specific polls are not
available, the general sense is that overseas Koreans are
generally conservative and support either GNP candidate Lee
Myung-bak or independent conservative candidate Lee
Hoi-chang. This is buttressed by the GNP's and Lee
Myung-bak's support in securing overseas Koreans' voting
rights, while the UNDP remains lukewarm. END NOTE)

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COMMENT
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8. (C) The progressive-controlled National Assembly was
apparently unwilling to make inroads on political hot
potatoes with potential to impact the presidential election.
Some bills -- like the budget and the Zaytun deployment --
will probably pass in the special session, but the February
session will be the one to watch, as National Assembly
members try to set themselves up for the April 2008 general
election.
VERSHBOW