Park takes office as Assembly speaker

입력 2010. 6. 8. 17:44 수정 2010. 6. 8. 18:20
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The National Assembly elected a right-leaning politician close to President Lee Myung-bak as its new speaker Tuesday, as political parties struggle to restructure their in-house power balance after the recent local elections, in which Lee's party suffered a crushing defeat.

New National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae (left) and his predecessor Kim Hyong-o at the Assembly's main chamber Tuesday Yang Dong-chul/The Korea Herald

Park Hee-tae, a six-term lawmaker of the ruling Grand National Party, will serve as the parliamentary speaker for two years, tasked with balancing out conflicts between the two rival parties and settle several controversial bills, including one to revise a former government-initiated plan to build a second administrative town in South Chungcheong Province.

"I see the need for change within the National Assembly. By change, I also mean return. Return to the basic idea that the parliament must properly serve its role as the representative of the people and conduct its lawmaking duty," Park said in his acceptance speech.

The new Assembly speaker also promised to work on resolving partisan conflicts.

"All conflicts should melt inside the parliament not the other way round," he said. "We must become a parliament that gives a sense of relief to people suffering from various difficulties."

The 72-year-old prosecutor-turned-politician won approval from 236 of the 249 Assembly members present at Tuesday's plenary session, along with Chung Ui-hwa of the GNP and Hong Jae-hyong of the main opposition Democratic Party who were elected to support him as vice parliamentary chiefs.

Controlling the majority of 169 seats in the 299-member unicameral house, the GNP is entitled to choose the parliamentary speaker and share the vice speakership with its main rival party.

Park, one of the staunchest supporters of Lee, served as his campaign committee member during the 2007 presidential elections. He was also formerly the chairman of the ruling GNP and deputy parliamentary speaker.

Born in Namhae in the southeastern province of Gyeongsang, Park first became an Assembly Member in 1988 and was elected to the parliament six consecutive times. The former Busan prosecutor is widely popular among the country's right-wingers, who support his conservative beliefs and policies.

The Assembly also chose chairpersons for the 18 standing committees Tuesday, taking the first step of a one-month parliamentary session during which legislators will work on settling pending bills on economy and welfare. The ruling party took 11 committee head positions, including that of the foreign affairs, defense and finance committees, while the main opposition took 6.

The parliamentary session will run through June 30.

The conservative ruling party is now struggling to regain public support in the lead up to the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Betraying pre-election forecasts, based on President Lee's increasing popularity on the back of a recovering economy and growing tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula, the ruling GNP secured just six of the 16 mayoral and gubernatorial positions in the June 2 local elections. Its liberal rival grabbed seven in a largely surprising victory, including those in the metropolitan Incheon as well as the traditional GNP district of South Gyeongsang.

By Shin Hae-in ( hayney@heraldm.com)

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