SKorea MP stages sit-in protest to block US free trade deal

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2008

SEOUL (AFP) — A South Korean lawmaker Tuesday locked himself inside a parliamentary committee room to try to block moves to ratify a free trade deal with the United States, officials said.

Kang Ki-Kab of the leftist Democratic Labour Party (DLP) entered the foreign affairs and trade committee room before dawn and has refused to come out, they said.

The DLP, which has nine MPs, strongly opposes the agreement signed last June but still awaiting ratification by the legislatures of both countries.

"Representative Kang has since been staging a sit-in protest inside and several of his aides are also with him," a parliament official told AFP.

Yonhap news agency said he is also staging a hunger strike but the official could not confirm this.

The...