S.Korean opposition lawmakers boycott parliament session

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 27, 2003

S.Korean opposition lawmakers boycott parliament session

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The lawmakers of South Korea's opposition party on Wednesday boycotted a parliamentary session in protest against the president's veto of an independent probe into corruption allegations against his former aides, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The Grand National Party (GNP)'s 149 legislators refused to attend a plenary session as well as meetings of subcommittees of the parliament. The biggest opposition party holds more than half seats of the 272-member National Assembly.

The ratification of the South Korea-Chile free trade agreement may be postponed by the move, said Yonhap.

President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday vetoed the independent council bill on the investigation into his former close aids who were found involved in some bribery cases.

The president said it is illegal to introduce independent council investigation when the prosecutors are probing the case. He also told the parliament to reconsider the bill.

The country's legislature passed the bill raised by the GNP on Nov. 10.

Moreover, the GNP's leader Choe Byung-yul went on a hunger strike in the party's headquarters in Seoul earlier Wednesday, urging Roh to withdraw his veto.

Under South Korea's law, if the parliament approves the bill again, the president must accept it.

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