PRESIDENT LEE GETS SPECIAL SESSION TO DISCUSS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 000773

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/16/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KS KN
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT LEE GETS SPECIAL SESSION TO DISCUSS
KORUS FTA, ECONOMIC REFORMS

REF: 2007 SEOUL 00096

Classified By: A/POL Brian McFeeters. Reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) On April 15 the floor leaders for the Grand National
Party (GNP) and United Democratic Party (UDP) decided to
convene a special National Assembly session for one month
beginning on April 25. The term of the current
progressive-dominated 17th National Assembly does not end
until May 29, and President Lee Myung-bak requested the extra
session to address the KORUS FTA and economic reform bills.
Why not wait until the conservative-dominated 18th National
Assembly takes over on May 30? The new assembly, which is
not scheduled to convene until early July, will need time to
organize itself -- including dividing the standing committee
chairmanships between the ruling and opposition parties --
before it can seriously debate legislation during the
September regular session. The GNP, which will have a
majority in the next assembly, will hold a party congress to
choose its new leader in July, raising the probability that
ruling party lawmakers will be distracted by internal power
politicking for much of the summer. The prospects for a
productive "lame duck" session, however, are dim as
progressives will not want to hand easy political victories
to the GNP and President Lee. END SUMMARY.

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WHAT EXPERTS & LAWMAKERS SAY WILL HAPPEN
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2. (SBU) On April 15 the two major parties agreed to hold an
extraordinary session starting on April 25. President Lee
Myung-bak had pushed for such a session to address the KORUS
FTA and the economic agenda. Reactions to President Lee's
request were initially mixed, with the GNP supportive while
the UDP and minor opposition parties characteristically
expressed skepticism. UDP chair Sohn Hak-kyu said the
president "should not unilaterally pressure the opposition
parties" to convene a National Assembly session.
Nevertheless, the GNP and UDP floor leaders agreed to put
priority on bills aimed at improving the livelihood of
ordinary citizens -- for example, preventing crimes against
children, enhancing food safety, and putting a cap on
university tuition. The GNP also plans to push for approval
of a more controversial package of corporate deregulation
bills pertaining to conglomerates as well as lifting the
restrictions on controlling banks and the equity investment
cap on affiliates.


3. (SBU) The GNP and President Lee also hope to put the KORUS
FTA forward for ratification. The UDP and other opposition
parties, however, say they will cooperate in addressing
economic bills, but that it would be inappropriate to deal
with the KORUS FTA ratification in the lame duck session,
especially since the agreement's fate in the U.S. is unclear.
UDP floor leader Kim Hyo-seuk said that business
deregulation laws and the KORUS FTA ratification are
particularly controversial. The latter, he said, should be
addressed in the new National Assembly when the ROK can be
sure that the U.S. will also move towards ratification. The
minor Labor Forward Party and Democratic Labor Party are also
against passing the KORUS FTA in May and say the motion
should be carried over to the new National Assembly. Many
UDP members, however, support the FTA -- notably UDP chair
Sohn Hak-kyu. Some of the more conservative UDP lawmakers
want to handle the FTA as soon as possible, but legislators
from the staunchly progressive Jeolla provinces, which are
largely agricultural, still oppose such a move.

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PAST LAME DUCK SESSIONS
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4. (SBU) This April's session will be the first
extraordinary session to be convened between the
parliamentary elections and the start of a new Assembly. The
current National Assembly Act stipulates that, other than the
September to December regular session every year, an
extraordinary session can be held in any even-numbered month
of the first half of the year -- February, April, and June --
but not in August, since it's immediately before the regular
budgetary session. Extraordinary sessions can also be held

in odd-numbered months -- January, March, May and July -- as
long as they are agreed upon among the negotiation groups.
It is less common, however, for a session to be held in those
months, unless there is a compelling reason. In the past the
National Assembly has usually been in a recess during its two
month-long lame duck period between general election and the
formation of the following National Assembly. Quite
predictably, incumbents who failed to be nominated or
reelected would be reluctant to engage in any further
parliamentary activity.

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COMMENT
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5. (C) How cooperative progressive lawmakers -- who still
hold the majority -- will be is unclear. Certainly there
will be a reluctance to give President Lee and the GNP easy
victories. Moreover, the GNP will find it particularly
difficult to engage progressive lawmakers who were not
reelected -- rumor has it that three-term UDP lawmaker Kim
Geun-tae has yet to leave his house following his defeat in
the April 9 elections. The fate of the KORUS FTA is
similarly opaque. Opposition party leaders have told the
Ambassador that they would support FTA ratification in the
lame duck session (reftel),and UDP chair Sohn Hak-kyu is a
proponent of the FTA. The real debate within the
progressives, however, seems to focus not on the agreement
itself but whether they should hand such a victory to
President Lee early in his term. END COMMENT.
STANTON