Anchor: The heads of two minor opposition parties are continuing their hunger strike, calling on the larger parties to join their bid to introduce a new proportional representation system. Narrowing the differences between parties and lawmakers, however, is unlikely to come easy as they have different interests over electoral reform.
Our Lee Bo-kyung has this story.
Report: Minor opposition Bareunmirae Party Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu and Justice Party Chairwoman Lee Jeong-mi continued their hunger strike for a fifth day Monday at the National Assembly.
Sohn and Lee vowed to continue their strike until the major parties agree to introduce a mixed-member proportional representation system in which parliamentary seats are tied to the percentage of voters' support for different parties.
In a news conference on Monday to mark the 100th day of his chairmanship, Sohn again called for electoral reform.
[Sound bite: Bareunmirae Party Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu (Korean)]
"I promised to eradicate two monsters when I became party chairman -- the winner-takes-it-all and mammoth two-party system."
The smaller parties are calling for an extraordinary parliamentary session this month to deliberate electoral reform and other issues. However, the ruling Democratic Party says it’s mulling a one-day parliamentary plenary session on December 20th to handle key bills and a motion for the appointment of a Supreme Court justice.
The three minor opposition parties are joining forces to introduce a new form of proportional representation in a bid to increase their presence in the legislature.
Under the mixed-member proportional representation system, voters get two votes, one to decide the representative for their single-seat constituency and one for a political party.
Voters already have two votes in Korea, but the proposed mixed-member proportional representation system would allocate seats according to the percentage of votes for the political party. If the percentage of votes for the party is higher than the amount of seats it wins, additional seats would be allocated to reflect the amount of votes the party received.
The smaller parties are seeking to hold discussions with the larger parties on the electoral reform, but the discussions are unlikely to resume at least until Tuesday when the main opposition Liberty Korea Party elects its new floor leader.
Lee Bo-kyung, KBS World News Radio.