The leader of Republic of Korea (ROK)'s ruling Uri Party resigned Monday over his party's failure to scrap a law by the end of 2004.

The National Security Law includes sweeping criminal provisions to ban contacts with citizens in Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The Uri Party sees the law as a relic of the past, obsolete under Seoul's policy of reconciliation and co-operation with Pyongyang, and had put forward a bill to scrap it.

But the conservative opposition Grand National Party (GNP) argued DPRK continued to pose a threat to national security and the law was still needed.

"I am announcing that myself as party chairman and three central committee members are resigning today," Uri Party Chairman Lee Bu-young told a party leadership council meeting.

Attempts to scrap the National Security Law had split parliament and thrown ROK politics into disarray after a boycott by opposition politicians led to a backlog of key bills to pass last year, including the national budget.

Uri had sought to scrap the law and amend the criminal code to incorporate provisions for extreme anti-state activities.

DPRK regularly demands that the law be scrapped, and Roh Moo-hyun, president of ROK, also supports the abolition of the law, which he has called "barbaric."

Lee said a meeting tomorrow would pick an interim leader who would serve until a party convention in April.

"I am sorry I did not have what it takes to do all that was expected of me," he said.

Lee, a former journalist, took over the party leadership in August.

He criticized some fellow Uri members and the opposition GNP for rejecting political compromises he had attempted to broker to end the turmoil.

His resignation came after parliament on Friday only just managed to meet a midnight deadline to pass the 2005 budget and a one-year extension of the country's troop deployment in Iraq.

The Uri party has a narrow majority in the 298-seat parliament.

Source: China Daily