Political tensions continued to mount Monday as the clock ticked toward a plenary sitting of the National Assembly later this week, where the ruling Grand National Party looks set to ram through the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.

The conservative party may take action on Tuesday or Wednesday to move the FTA bill forward, making it ready for the final vote on Thursday. Or it could ask National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae to call a direct floor vote on the bill, by-passing committee-level procedures, political observers said.

The FTA bill currently stands before a parliamentary committee on trade. The GNP lawmakers have so far hesitated to push the bill through as opposition members physically obstructed committee sessions to block its passage.

The party, however, will not hesitate further, chairman Rep. Hong Joon-pyo said.

“For the past four years, we have accepted the demands of the Democratic Party 100 percent. But the DP is refusing to make any concessions,” he said during a meeting of party leaders.

Park, a GNP member, is likely to call a vote, if requested by his party. 

“The time has come for a decision,” he told a group of reporters. “I have come to a conclusion that there is nothing (else) I can do (to resolve the impasse over the FTA ratification.)”

The liberal rival Democratic Party, however, continued to resist the mounting pressure to compromise, sticking to its demand that a set of controversial clauses on investor-state disputes settlement mechanism must be deleted from the deal.

The party had rejected an offer by President Lee Myung-bak that he would seek renegotiations on the ISD clauses once the parliament ratifies the deal. It instead demanded Lee to back his verbal promise with a written agreement between two governments.

DP leaders claim that the ruling camp is pressing for the FTA ratification, although they know too that ISD clauses are toxic to Korea.

“If (the GNP) attempts to ratify the deal, without taking any measure for future renegotiations, we have no option but to block it physically,” Rep. Kim Jin-pyo, the party’s floor leader, said.

As the partisan standoff deepens, some members continued making efforts to find a breakthrough and avoid eruption of violence on the parliamentary floor.

Six lawmakers ― three each from the GNP and DP met to discuss ways to resolve the impasse.

“We will do our best, because this week could be the last week for both parties to negotiate,” GNP Rep. Jungwook Hong said.

The Korea-U.S. FTA was signed in 2007 under the previous liberal administration of President Roh Moo-hyun. The current Lee administration led a renegotiation of the deal last year at the request of the U.S.

The DP and other liberal groups claim that the balance of interest swung in favor of the U.S. during the renegotiation. They demand the ISD clauses, at the very least, should be removed from the agreement.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)