SEOUL: South Korean MPs barricaded themselves into a parliamentary committee room Thursday after opponents smashed down the door, as tempers flared over a bid to ratify a US free trade pact.
The scuffle began as dozens of the governing Grand National Party's (GNP) members, helped by security guards, occupied the room to start procedures to approve the deal.
About 150 opposition legislators and aides pushed or elbowed other ruling party legislators outside the closed room, witnesses said.
Some opposition members with a chisel and hammers broke down a door and used a nearby fire hose to spray water into the room but GNP legislators inside immediately put up a barricade with sofas and chairs.
Security guards used a fire extinguisher to stop the scuffle.
The opposition MPs staged a sit-down protest after their repeated attempts to break into the room failed. A GNP member was hospitalised for injuries in his hand, according to Yonhap news agency.
The GNP insisted that the pact, signed by Seoul and Washington last year, should be approved by a full parliamentary session before the end of this year. The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) says South Korea should not ratify it until the US Congress moves to do so.
"We are in a battlefield today," GNP parliament leader Hong Jun-Pyo told reporters, vowing to push a motion for ratification through the 29-member committee as a prelude to approval by the full house.
The GNP has 172 seats in the 299-member legislature compared to 83 for the DP.
Hong rejected a proposal from his DP counterpart, Won Hye-Young, of opposition cooperation in endorsing the pact within 30 days after Washington requests its own legislature to approve it.
After hours of confrontation, the GNP completed procedures to put the motion to a vote at the committee. Committee chief Park Jin urged the opposition to ratify the pact through discussion but gave no timetable on the vote.
The GNP has vowed to push for ratification this year in hopes of pressing the US Congress also to move swiftly. Both legislatures must endorse it to bring it into operation.
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak and President George W. Bush agreed during an April summit to push for approval of the FTA this year.
For the US, the deal with South Korea would be its biggest since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994.
Some estimates say it could boost two-way trade, worth 78.4 billion dollars last year, by up to 20 billion dollars in coming years.
However US president-elect Barack Obama has called the deal "badly flawed" and said it does too little to narrow a huge imbalance in the auto trade in Seoul's favour.
South Korea has ruled out any renegotiation.
The scuffle began as dozens of the governing Grand National Party's (GNP) members, helped by security guards, occupied the room to start procedures to approve the deal.
About 150 opposition legislators and aides pushed or elbowed other ruling party legislators outside the closed room, witnesses said.
Some opposition members with a chisel and hammers broke down a door and used a nearby fire hose to spray water into the room but GNP legislators inside immediately put up a barricade with sofas and chairs.
Security guards used a fire extinguisher to stop the scuffle.
The opposition MPs staged a sit-down protest after their repeated attempts to break into the room failed. A GNP member was hospitalised for injuries in his hand, according to Yonhap news agency.
The GNP insisted that the pact, signed by Seoul and Washington last year, should be approved by a full parliamentary session before the end of this year. The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) says South Korea should not ratify it until the US Congress moves to do so.
"We are in a battlefield today," GNP parliament leader Hong Jun-Pyo told reporters, vowing to push a motion for ratification through the 29-member committee as a prelude to approval by the full house.
The GNP has 172 seats in the 299-member legislature compared to 83 for the DP.
Hong rejected a proposal from his DP counterpart, Won Hye-Young, of opposition cooperation in endorsing the pact within 30 days after Washington requests its own legislature to approve it.
After hours of confrontation, the GNP completed procedures to put the motion to a vote at the committee. Committee chief Park Jin urged the opposition to ratify the pact through discussion but gave no timetable on the vote.
The GNP has vowed to push for ratification this year in hopes of pressing the US Congress also to move swiftly. Both legislatures must endorse it to bring it into operation.
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak and President George W. Bush agreed during an April summit to push for approval of the FTA this year.
For the US, the deal with South Korea would be its biggest since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994.
Some estimates say it could boost two-way trade, worth 78.4 billion dollars last year, by up to 20 billion dollars in coming years.
However US president-elect Barack Obama has called the deal "badly flawed" and said it does too little to narrow a huge imbalance in the auto trade in Seoul's favour.
South Korea has ruled out any renegotiation.
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