Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said Thursday that the government was to blame for the uncontrolled spread of foot-and-mouth disease across the country, citing poor quarantine measures in the early stages.
"As a result, the government should take indefinite responsibility for the (latest) foot-and-mouth situation," Kim said during a parliamentary interpellation session.
He pointed out that when the first case of foot-and-mouth disease was reported in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, on Nov. 23 last year, local quarantine authorities failed to deal appropriately with the situation.
"There was a fundamental problem in the quarantine system with regard to livestock disease," Kim said. "The government feels fully responsibility for it."
The prime minister was responding to opposition lawmakers' criticism against the government over the protracted pandemic.
South Korea has culled more than 3.3 million pigs and cattle over the past three months. The government is also struggling to minimize water and land contamination in and around burial sites.
Thursday's parliamentary session was also marked by heated debates over whether and when the country should revise its Constitution that was written in 1987, a sensitive political issue as it is directly related with the leadership system. Currently, the tenure of a South Korean president is five years without a chance for re-election. Its president wields most of the administrative power, while the prime minister largely plays a ceremonial role.
In this regard, Prime Minister Kim said in the Assembly session, "I concur with the view that Korea's president has excessively strong power, thereby causing various side effects."
Lawmakers at the ruling Grand National Party (GNP), especially loyal to President Lee Myung-bak, call for a shift in the power system and modification in other constitutional stipulations to keep up with the changes of political and social conditions.
But the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), supported by some GNP lawmakers over the situation, takes issue with the timing of a constitutional revision.
The DP says that the National Assembly should focus on improving the livelihood of the people, who are suffering from inflation, soaring rent, mounting household debts and foot-and-mouth disease, rather than being distracted by what it says is a politically motivated constitutional revision.
Appearing on a television talk show early this month, the president said this year is an appropriate time for a constitutional revision.
Rep. Jong Bum-goo of the DP said, "The president and the GNP are more interested in a constitutional revision than the livelihood of the people."
Rep. Kwon Seong-dong of the GNP, however, claimed that, "Although there are differences among surveys, more than half of the people feel the need for a constitutional revision. If the ruling and opposition sides strike an agreement, a constitutional revision is possible this year."