South Korea passed anti-terror bill

South Korea's parliament on 2 March 2016 passed the country's first anti-terror bill.

Among almost 300 parliamentary seats, only 156 ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers and one minority party member participated in a vote on the country's first anti-terrorism legislation, which was passed through the National Assembly with 156 in favour.

The country's filibuster, invoked for the first time in 38 years, was aimed at blocking the passage of the bill which triggered fears that it may grant excessive power to the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

A total of 38 opposition lawmakers participated in the filibuster that ran for 192 hours and 25 minutes.

Key highlights of the proposed bill

• The security bill proposes to set up a new anti-espionage unit reporting to the chief of the country's spy agency and will coordinate surveillance, analysis and investigation into leads that point to a possible attack.

• It will allow the NIS agents to collect personal information, location and conversation in mobile phones from suspected terrorists, while enabling the agency to track bank accounts and immigration records of the suspects.

However, the opposition objects to greater power for the spy agency and seeks to scrap a bill provision that would authorize the intelligence agency to monitor private communications.

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