Rival parties clash head-on over budget plan

Lawmakers of rival parties on Tuesday clashed physically over next year's national budget plan with only three days left before the end of the regular session. 

Dozens of opposition lawmakers and their aides fought with their counterparts from the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) when their entry into a plenary session of the committee on land and maritime affairs was blocked by the latter.

Rival parties clash over the national budget plan for 2011 in the National Assembly on Nov. 8. (Yonhap News)

A GNP lawmaker was rushed to a local hospital after being hit on the head with a gavel thrown during the scuffle, according to another GNP lawmaker who witnessed the scene. The attacked lawmaker, Hyun Ki-hwan, suffered a minor injury, his aide said.

Some 40 lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) took over the chairman's seat and podium at the main congress hall late at night to block the GNP from jamming the budget bill through the parliament.

Lawmakers of rival parties struggle to take the chairman’s seat and podium at the main chamber to block the ruling GNP from railroading the budget bill through the parliament, on Nov.8. (Yonhap News)

The move came two hours after about 400 lawmakers from the DP and minor opposition parties, including the Democratic Labor Party, launched a sit-in at the main lobby of the Congress to block GNP lawmakers from entering parliamentary meetings.

The GNP has repeatedly vowed to finish budget deliberations by Thursday, accusing the DP of intentionally delaying the procedure for political gains -- to derail the key domestic agendas of the Lee Myung-bak administration, including the four-river refurbishment project, ahead of the 2012 presidential election. The party controls the majority with 171 seats in the 298-member unicameral parliament.

The party has also threatened to put the budget bill to voting in the plenary session of the committee on Wednesday and then in a full floor session the next day, if no decision was made in the committee's subpanel meeting by 11 p.m. on Tuesday.

But the DP has threatened to employ physical means in that case to block its passage, demanding an extraordinary parliamentary session be held to follow the regular session.

Lawmakers of the Democratic Party stage a sit-in protest over the four-river refurbishment project on Nov. 8. (Yonhap News)

The party already submitted a request for the extra session to the Assembly with four other opposition parties.

The party said it will not clear the occupations of the parliamentary speaker's podium and the main lobby until the rival party accepts its demand for convening an extraordinary session when the regular meeting is over.

"The occupation will basically continue until Thursday, the last day of the regular session," Park Ki-choon, deputy floor leader of the DP, told Yonhap News Agency by phone. "But we can end this earlier if the GNP agrees to call an extraordinary session and faithfully deliberate the budget bill," he said.

The government has proposed a 309.6 trillion won budget (US$274.5 billion) for 2011, an approximate 6 percent increase from this year. But the DP is aiming for a reduction of 11.3 trillion won, making cuts in virtually every major sector related to the controversial river refurbishment project.

The state is pushing to allocate 9.6 trillion won next year for the refurbishment of the nation's four major rivers -- the Han, Nakdong, Geumgang and Yeongsan -- which the Lee administration says will help prevent floods and enhance water quality.

The rival parties already missed the Dec. 2 legal deadline for getting the bill passed in the Assembly but were still nowhere near agreement as of Tuesday.   

With the mess outside, the GNP unilaterally opened the land and maritime affairs committee meeting and submitted 92 bills, including one aimed to speed up the river refurbishment project, for discussion inside a closed-door conference room at the Assembly.

The GNP-led river basin development bill allows authorities to designate areas within a 2-kilometer reach from the four rivers as a special environment-friendly development zone where commercial facilities can be built.

The bill is aimed at providing legal support to the river project, which is at the center of the partisan conflict over the budget plan. The government wants to allocate about 9.6 trillion won from next year's budget but the DP wants to cut most of the budget set aside for the river project, saying it will cause disaster to the nation's ecosystems. (Yonhap News)

Leaked cables discuss Kim’s health, N.K.’s future

Classified U.S. diplomatic cables, leaked by WikiLeaks on Monday, indicate that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s health has been deteriorating and his power to control the communist nation is increasingly weakened.

According to the secret documents, South Korea’s top official in charge of inter-Korean relations predicts Kim will die within five years due to his poor health. A top Chinese official revealed that Kim’s decision-making power has weakened since having a stroke in 2008 and this led him to hurriedly decide on his youngest son as successor. 

Under a diplomatic cable dated July 24, 2009, South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said, “Kim Jong-il is unlikely to live beyond 2015.” He made the comments in a meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell on Kim Jong-il’s health and succession concerns.

“The current succession preparations for Kim Jong-un were ‘rushed’ and he anticipated additional ‘fireworks’ (either a third nuclear test or missile launches) at the end of the current 150-day campaign,” Minister Hyun said.

Another cable dated Jan.11, 2010 reveals analysis on China-North Korea trade and Kim Jong-il’s decision-making power. 

The analysis report said, “Kim Jong-il has recently reversed decisions and struggled to implement policies, showing increasing indecisiveness.” “Officials also chart their own course as different factions competing for Kim’s attention, making it difficult for Kim to set a firm, clear direction.”

Another diplomatic cable dated Oct. 26, 2009 describes a conversation between top officials from the United States and China over North Korean leader Kim’s drinking habit.

According to the conversation between U.S. Deputy Secretary James Steinberg and Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo, Kim Jong-il still drinks despite having had a stroke.

“Kim Jong-il had a reputation among the Chinese for being ‘quite a good drinker,’” Dai said. The Chinese official had asked Kim if he still drank alcohol. Kim said yes.

North Korea’s collapse and succession process
A cable dated Feb. 22, 2010 describes a conversation between South Korea’s then Vice Foreign Minister Chun Yung-woo and U.S. ambassador to Korea Kathleen Stephens about China’s position on North Korea. 

Over an official lunch, Chun, who is now President Lee Myung-bak’s top foreign policy and security adviser, said, “China would not be able to stop North Korea’s collapse following the death of Kim Jong-il.”

Chinese set to outnumber Japanese tourists

The number of overseas tourists entering Korea reached a record 8 million Monday, aided by the sharp rise in Chinese tourists offsetting a slim decline in Japanese visitors, the latest data from the Korea Tourism Organization showed. 

The milestone figure is a 12 percent increase from the same period last year when the nation recorded 7.16 million inbound visitors.

The KTO report also showed nearly 65 percent of foreign tourists were from Asia with Japanese and Chinese making up the bulk of the total with 2.79 million and 2.37 million, respectively.

Kim Kardashian 'dies' for a cause

Kim Kardashian ‘dies’ for a cause
Hollywood celeb Kim Kardashian wears a pink dress, her eyes closed, as she lies in a coffin. Is she dead really? Yes, at least in cyberspace.

She is playing dead in an advertisement to promote an online campaign to raise money for charity on the occasion of World AIDS Day, which fell on Tuesday.

The campaign was launched by Keep A Child Alive, a non-profit program dedicated to providing support to families affected by HIV/AIDS.

The organization was co-founded by musician/actress Alicia Keys and Kardashian, with Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and other famous celebs from the world joining the charity campaign. As part of it they will log off social networking sites and not sign back in until $1 million has been collected.

The ad caption reads, “Kim sacrificed her digital life to give real life to millions of others affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India. That means no more Facebook or Twitter until we buy her life back. Visit BuyLife.org or text ‘KIM’ to ‘90999’ to buy her life now.”

SKT unveils world’s first telematics service in China

SK Telecom, the country’s top mobile carrier, announced that it introduced the world’s first commercial mobile telematics service in China on Wednesday.

The E-MIV service will enable people to use their mobile phones to protect, control and manage their cars, according to SKT officials.

SKT has partnered with Shenzhen E-eye, a Chinese GPS service provider, to tap into the telematics market in China. SKT purchased a 65.5 percent stake in the Chinese company earlier in 2007.

Seoul, Washington, Tokyo working together on N.K.

Making official they will not resume talks with North Korea until the country honors previous denuclearization agreements, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are seeking coordinated measures to tackle the increased military tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula. 

North Korea unleashed a barrage of artillery shells on a civilian-inhabited South Korean island near their tense western sea border a week ago, killing at least four people and ratcheting up military tensions to the highest level in more than two decades. Instead of condemning Pyongyang as most other countries have, China proposed over the weekend that six partners of the stalled talks on North Korea’s denuclearization meet in Beijing next month for an emergency session.

China, reluctant to ruin ties with its unpredictable but diplomatically useful ally North Korea, apparently wants the emergency session to work as a stepping stone in fully resuming the aid-for-denuclearization talks deadlocked since December 2008. 

Foreign ministers of Seoul, Washington and Tokyo will meet in Washington in the first week of December to coordinate their stance toward Pyongyang’s recent provocation as well as Beijing’s proposal, according to the Foreign Ministry here. 

KEPCO steps up overseas resources development

Korea Electric Power Corp. is furthering efforts to expand overseas resource development and become one of global top five power companies by 2020. 

“Overseas resource development is a necessity rather than a choice for KEPCO. In a country that depends on imports for most of its energy needs, we acutely need overseas resources bases that would stabilize supply and shield against price fluctuations,” KEPCO CEO Kim Ssang-su said recently.

A stable energy resource has been a concern of strategic interest for Korea and other fast-growing economies, resulting in fierce international competition and often becoming a source of diplomatic spats. 

China recently halted supplying Japan rare earths, key to electronic goods, in retaliation for the latter’s refusal to release the captain of a Chinese fishing boat. China currently produces more than 97 percent of the total global rare earths supply. 

Korea, which depends on imports for most of its energy needs, has been stepping up overseas resource development projects over the past few years.

Most recently, Korea National Oil Corp. succeeded in a hostile takeover with Dana Petroleum of the U.K. in September while Korea Resources Corp. acquired a lithium development right for a Bolivian mine and November.