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Rep. Hong Sa-duk, the floor leader of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP), took responsibility for the vote to release former GNP head Suh Cheong-won and the delay in ratifying the Korea-Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and said he would resign as his party's floor leader as soon as the FTA is voted upon on Feb. 16.
Hong held a press conference following a Thursday morning standing committee meeting, during which he said that the advice given and the worries expressed by the younger faction of the GNP on Wednesday concerning the party's direction had to do with countermeasures within the National Assembly, and as the floor leader responsible for the party's performance within the Assembly, he would resign as floor leader.
He said that he would continue with his responsibilities as floor leader until the FTA ratification vote on Feb. 16, after which a new "Assembly control tower" would take charge.
Asked whether he consulted with GNP chief Choe Byung-yul, Hong said only that Choe has been informed.
Criticizing the calls made by younger GNP representatives, made during a press conference the previous day, for the party leadership to sacrifice themselves, Hong said, "To do that without any previous discussions with only 60 days left until the general election was not a very deeply though-out way of doing things at all."
While intra-party discord worsening as a result of the decision to vote Suh Chung-won out of jail, Hong's decision to resign is expected to mark a new phase in the situation.
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Chairman of the Grand National Party(GNP) Choe Byung-yul, who is being criticized by the press and younger members of the party for passing the bill releasing former chairman Suh Chung-won, discussing something with floor leader Hong Sa-duk during a senior postholders' meeting at party headquarters.
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Hong was selected as floor leader in July 2003 through a direct vote by all the party's Assembly members. He resigns after only 10 months on the job.
About this matter, GNP chief Choe Byung-yul said that while the position of party floor leader is a directly elected one, he would use his power as party head to decline Hong's resignation. Bae Yong-su, the party's vice spokesperson, said that the party's standing committee also tried to dissuade Hong from resigning.
Upon hearing that Choe would decline his resignation, however, Hong said to reports, "We need to get this done. We need to get this done quickly," hinting that he might accept Choe's return of his resignation.
(Robert Koehler, internetnews@chosun.com )
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