Filed by KOSU News in World News.
November 22, 2011

Angered by the ruling party’s successful push to ratify a free trade deal with the U.S., a South Korean lawmaker “doused rivals with tear gas” earlier today during a raucous session of parliament, The Associated Press writes from Seoul.

Korea’s Yonhap News agency reports that:

“Rep. Kim Sun-dong of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) was in the full parliamentary session at around 4 p.m. when lawmakers of the ruling Grand National Party abruptly called a plenary session in an apparent move to ratify the bill. Kim threw the tear gas bomb near the Speaker’s seat, where vice parliamentary speaker Chung Ui-hwa was sitting at the time.”

Chaos, as they say, ensued until order could be restored.

As the AP reminds us:

“Such chaotic scenes are not uncommon in South Korea’s parliament, where rival parties have a history of resorting to physical confrontation over highly charged issues. In 2008, opposition lawmakers used a sledgehammer to try and force their way into a barricaded committee room to stop the ruling party from introducing a debate on the U.S. trade deal.”

The wire service has some “raw video” of the scene. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]