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Twenty-three lawmakers on Tuesday quit the ruling Uri Party to form a new parliamentary faction and creating a new structure in the National Assembly with two government sides. They included former Uri floor leader Kim Han-gill and former chief policy-maker Kang Bong-kyun. Their defection reduced the ruling party¡¯s seats in the National Assembly to 110, making it the second biggest after the Grand National Party¡¯s 127.
Tuesday¡¯s defection brings the number of losses to the Uri Party to 29 this year. Three or four more are expected to bolt this weekend, dealing a severe blow to President Roh Moo-hyun and his already lame-duck government. Unless the party reinvents itself with a bang, the number of defectors will likely increase exponentially. The 23 will join those who already quit to form a parliamentary faction of about 30 lawmakers who expect to hold the decisive vote in future parliamentary decisions. Any group with more than 20 lawmakers can register with the National Assembly as a parliamentary faction.
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Twenty-three Uri Party lawmakers give a press conference at the National Assembly on Tuesday after defecting from the party. /Yonhap
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The defectors at a press conference promised to cooperate with President Roh Moo-hyun so he can govern responsibly until he leaves office, but ¡°resolutely oppose political intervention from him." They will likely keep a distance from Roh for the time being.
Ruling and opposition camps slammed them in unison, with Roh and the Uri leadership denouncing the defection as "unjustifiable.¡± In an emergency leadership meeting, Uri Party chairman Kim Geun-tae said, "All political actions should be justifiable, and the defectors are trying to justify their defection from the party. Have they completely abandoned their political ideals?" Uri spokesman Woo Sang-ho said it was incompatible with political ethics for the defectors to bolt en masse despite agreeing ¡°to join in the efforts to form a grand coalition party." GNP floor leader Kim Hyeong-o was also scathing. "It seems they bolted from the Uri Party just because they dislike President Roh or because they want to survive politically on their own. Some people say their defection was premeditated and they are 'runaway lawmakers.'"
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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