SEOUL: South Korea's ruling Grand National Party (GNP) looked set to use its majority to approve a free trade deal with the United States this week despite bitter opposition from liberal parties.
GNP chief Hong Joon-pyo said time and patience was running out to pass the trade bill and he reminded the opposition Democratic Party that it was when they were in power more than four years ago that the pact was negotiated and signed, and heralded as the future for export-reliant South Korea.
"To delay it further would mean everybody loses," Hong said at a party leaders' meeting on Monday. "I want to make it clear that we cannot delay the free trade bill any longer."
The deal, which some studies say could boost the $67 billion two-way trade between the allies by as much as a quarter, was approved by the US Congress last month and signed into law by President Barack Obama.
It is the biggest US trade pact since the North America Free Trade Agreement went into force in 1994 and had been expected to sail through South Korea's parliament.
But opposition party members have been trying to block it with some complaining that it gives US automakers a major inroad into the South Korean market.
They also say a dispute settlement mechanism written into the pact is akin to South Korea giving up its sovereignty.
Gridlock in parliament has all but paralysed proceedings in the final weeks of budget deliberations.
The GNP has been unwilling to risk political damage by pushing the bill through ahead of general and presidential elections next year but may have finally realised that any damage may not be long-lasting, a political analyst said.
"It appears at this point that processing it with a vote will not have much of a direct impact on next year's elections," said independent analyst Yu Chang-seon.
"The elections are quite some time away and this is an issue over which public opinion is divided."
The constitutional deadline for parliament to approve the government budget bill for next year is Dec. 2, although the assembly regularly misses the early-December date and often manages to hold up processing it until just before the fiscal year begins on Jan. 1.
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