hankyoreh

Feb. 5. Chung visited the site to examine the measures taken to preserve the ruins.

Five opposition parties, the Democratic Party (DP), Liberty Forward Party (LFP), Democratic Labor Party (DLP), Creative Korea Party (CKP) and New Progressive Party (NPP) are actively considering a plan to submit a motion this month calling for the dismissal of Prime Minister Chung Un-chan, and some within the Grand National Party’s pro-Park Geun-hye camp expressed support for the plan Friday.

In a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh on Friday, Lawmaker Yoo Jeong-bok, a key aide of former GNP chairwoman Park Geun-hye, said that if Chung, who he said is plunging South Korea into chaos to pass the Sejong City Development Plan revisions without prior knowledge of the original plan or even the name of the bill, were to be untouched, the government would grow more arrogant. Yoo said he is carefully considering whether to participate in the vote to dismiss Chung in order to force the government to reassume a proper governmental role. Yoo said regardless of the fact that Chung is now a part of the ruling party administration, the prime minister deserves support only when he helps to promote national development and public happiness, and the prime minister is past the point where he deserves blind protection.

Pro-Park Lawmaker Lee Sung-hun also said that Prime Minister Chung, who curtly referred to the original Sejong City Development Plan as a shell and has tried to act like the master of the legislature, has already shown he does not posess the will to carry out the duties of prime minister, and that a motion to dismiss him is the right choice for the nation, even if will cause a political stir. Another third-term lawmaker in the Park camp said there has been no organized discussion amongst the pro-Park lawmakers, but in light of the prime minister’s behavior, who has been hung up on the Sejong City Development Plan revisions, it is highly possible they would vote for the opposition-sponsored bill calling for his dismissal.

A motion advising the dismissal of the prime minister requires a majority of current lawmakers, or 149 of 297 votes. The opposition currently holds of 127 seats, and therefore, should the 50 to 60 pro-Park lawmakers join the opposition lawmakers and vote for the dismissal, the motion could pass.

However, the political fallout from such a turn of events, including full-scale discussions of splitting the GNP into pro-Lee and pro-Park parties, is expected to be substantial, and it is therefore unknown whether the pro-Park lawmakers will actually support the opposition’s motion.

GNP Lawmaker Lee Jung-hyun, another aide to Park, said while it is true that there has been extreme anger at Chung’s attitude, which has belittled the political sphere as if it were a place where each individual moves in accordance with faction bosses and votes, there has yet to be a formal discussion over whether to join a vote calling for the prime minister’s dismissal. The only things that have been expressed are personal thoughts and complaints. This is a strong warning to Chung, who referred to the Sejong City Development Plan revisions bill as the best, and referred to pro-Park lawmakers opposed to the bill as a clique who only takes their boss’s thoughts into consideration.

There are also mixed feelings within the pro-Lee Myung-bak camp. Kim Yong-tae, a pro-Lee lawmaker, said those who do not like Chung, who has been pushing the Sejong City Development Plan revisions, just need to express their non-confidence through the vote on the Sejong City Development Plan revisions bill. Kim said that since it would present a serious problem for ruling party lawmakers to vote for an opposition-sponsored bill calling for the dismissal of the prime minister, he does not think the pro-Park lawmakers would make that choice.

Meanwhile, another pro-Lee lawmaker said if pro-Park lawmakers make the radical choice of agreeing to the opposition’s motion, voices within the Grand National Party calling for a rational compromise would grow louder along with those calling for Park Geun-hye to accept responsibility for the failure, and that pro-Lee lawmakers would have no reason to stop them.

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