With Millennium Democratic Party members Won Yoo-chul, Lee Keun-jin, and Kim Yoon-shik joining the opposition Grand National Party, Monday, the opposition's seats in the National Assembly totaled 145. Now having a simple majority of the Assembly's seats (137), the GNP can now reach for a target of 152, the so called "absolute majority" whereby the party takes the majority in all of the 17 standing committees.

If it secures a majority in all standing committees, GNP can dictate policy in all resolutions presented to each committee, a status not observed since a 1990 merger of three parties.

As of now the GNP are seven seats short, but according to party officials, five to six United Liberal Democrat lawmakers are planning to join. At the same time, at least one to two assemblymen from the faction who left the MDP earlier are expected to join as is Assemblywoman Park Keun-hye.

(Song Dong-hoon, dhsong@chosun.com )