Opposition Lawmakers in S. Korea Resign En Masse

Opposition lawmakers resigned en masse today, demanding new elections and accusing President Roh Tae Woo of using sensitive inter-Korea issues to divert attention from pressing domestic problems.

The resignations of all 79 opposition members in the 299-member National Assembly could throw the country into political crisis as it prepares for the first meeting ever between the prime ministers of North and South Korea.

The Roh government announced today that it was willing to negotiate with the Communist North on conditions the North is setting for opening the border between the Koreas to travelers.

North Korea today proposed expanded high-level talks among government and political leaders of the two sides Friday.

Kim Dae Jung, head of the leading opposition Party for Peace and Democracy, said his party welcomed efforts for border openings with North Korea. But he said Roh should not use the issue to bolster what he called sagging support for the governing Democratic Liberal Party.

The mass resignations from Parliament included 71 members of Kim’s party and eight members from the splinter Democratic Party.

The legislators cleaned out their offices and said they and their staffs would refuse further government paychecks as of today.

They said they would not return unless the governing party agrees to discuss their demands, including new elections. They also want 26 controversial bills that were pushed through the legislature at a special session earlier this month returned to committee.

Roh’s party was a minority party in Parliament until it merged in January with two smaller groups, giving it a two-thirds majority. The opposition says the legislature’s makeup no longer reflects the wishes of voters and new elections must be held.

The governing party said the resignations would not be immediately accepted.

Opposition lawmakers said they considered themselves finished with Parliament nevertheless, regardless of how the resignations are dealt with.

On Saturday, anti-government protesters clashed with police after a huge opposition rally that attracted an estimated 300,000 people. Fighting broke out when riot police firing tear gas blocked a column of about 20,000 radical students chanting anti-government slogans.

Police said 195 protesters were arrested. There were no reports of injuries.

The rally had been called to celebrate talks to unify the two opposition parties with a nationwide dissident group by September.

The Korean peninsula was divided into the pro-Western south and Communist north at the end of World War II.