By Xinhua,
Seoul : The South Korean government and the ruling party agreed Wednesday to delay government’s plans to build an inland waterway across the Korean Peninsula and to privatize state-run corporations, Yonhap quoted officials as saying.
Instead, the government and ruling party agreed to focus on how to improve the livelihoods of lower-income households, Yonhap said.
The agreement was reached after a meeting of top government policymakers and leaders of the ruling party.
“Public corporation privatization and the pan-Korean waterway project are adding to the public’s concern, amid a flurry of conflicting views over the government’s controversial policy tasks,” ruling party spokeswoman Cho Yoon-sun said in a media briefing.
President Lee Myung-bak’s entire Cabinet and senior secretaries offered to resign over the past week to take responsibility for the government’s much-criticized decision to import U.S. beef with almost no restrictions, despite public fear of mad cow disease.
Tens of thousands of angry protesters have held daily candlelight rallies nationwide for over a month, demanding a renegotiation of the U.S. beef import deal.