Rep. Jeon Jeong-hee, center, and Rep. Lim Su-kyung from the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea encourage each other during a filibuster session at the National Assembly, Tuesday. A total of 30 opposition lawmakers have given filibuster speeches for eight consecutive days ― the world's longest filibuster ― to block a vote on a contentious anti-terrorism bill. /Yonhap



By Rachel Lee

The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) has decided to end its record-breaking filibuster to pave the way for parliamentary votes on the electoral constituencies and anti-terrorism bills, which are expected today.

MPK lawmakers continued their speeches at the National Assembly for the eighth consecutive day ― the world's longest filibuster ― to protest the ruling party's push for the enactment of the anti-terrorism bill.

The MPK leadership said it has decided to end the filibuster to normalize the Assembly, but the speeches continued as of 5 p.m.

Over 30 opposition representatives have spoken at the podium in the chamber since Feb. 23 to block the vote on the anti-terrorism bill that they claim would give too much power to the country's intelligence agency.

"We have decided to end the filibuster in light of the spirit of the March 1 Independence Movement," Lee Jong-kul, the MPK's floor leader, said.

With the decision, the anti-terrorism law and the long-awaited bill on the new electoral map are likely to be put to a vote at a National Assembly plenary session as early as today.

The decision to end the filibuster comes as the situation could draw public criticism over the delay in parliamentary endorsement of the disputed bills.

The marathon of speeches has delayed the passing of the bill on the redrawn electoral map for the general election in April.

Lee scheduled a press conference for Tuesday morning to make an official statement regarding the party's decision. But the floor leader put it off due to a strong backlash within the party against the decision.

"We will make an announcement after holding a general meeting," Lee said.

Some MPK representatives pointed to problems with the decision.

"We have been telling the people for 150 hours that there are problems with the anti-terrorism law, but now we do not know what to say about the decision," Rep. Kim Kwang-jin of the MPK said.

"We understand where the emergency planning committee's decision comes from, but at least we need to have a general meeting. There is a procedural problem," Rep. Eun Soo-mi said on her Twitter account.

Opposition parties beat the world record for the longest filibuster, previously held by Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP).

The NDP orchestrated a filibuster for two days and 10 hours in 2011 to prevent the passing of a bill ordering Canada Post employees back to work. The bill was introduced after Canada Post locked out its employees following rotating strikes as talks between the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Canada Post collapsed. Despite the filibuster, the bill was passed.

The MPK began its filibuster Feb. 23 at 7:07 p.m. Minor opposition parties later joined in.

Rep. Kim began the first speech for five hours and 32 minutes during a plenary session of the National Assembly, followed by Rep. Moon Byeong-ho and Rep. Eun, who delivered a 10-hour, 18-minute speech.

Rep. Jung Cheong-rae set the record for the longest filibuster speech in South Korean history with an 11-hour, 39-minute speech.

The ruling Saenuri Party proposed the bill, which aims to give the National Intelligence Service the authority to collect information on private communications, travel and financial transactions of potential terrorists.

The MPK has opposed the bill because it alleges it will allow the spy agency to abuse its power and use the law to monitor civilians and opposition lawmakers.

But the governing party has refused to compromise and carried out a full-scale offensive against the opposition party, calling it one of the opposition's election campaigns before the general election in April.