United Future Party Demands 'Second Half Judiciary Committee Chair'... Park Byeong-seok Proposes 'Ruling Party's Share'

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] As the ruling and opposition parties continue to clash over the National Assembly's organization, the United Future Party is reported to have stepped back from its original stance that it should hold the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee in the first half, and instead demanded a guaranteed chairmanship position in the second half.

According to political circles on the 26th, after the Democratic Party of Korea rejected this demand, Speaker Park Byeong-seok proposed a mediation plan that the ruling party would hold the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee in the second half of the 21st National Assembly, which will be formed after the 2022 presidential election. However, the United Future Party rejected Speaker Park's mediation plan, and the negotiations ended without any results that day.

It is reported that Speaker Park proposed the plan for the ruling party to take the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee in the second half during a meeting with the floor leaders of both parties, which lasted for about two hours from 1:20 p.m. that day.

Since the organization of the second half of the 21st National Assembly will proceed after the March 2022 presidential election, the intention is to create a breakthrough in negotiations by allowing the party that wins the presidential election to hold the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee going forward.

Speaker Park's mediation plan reportedly came after the United Future Party proposed that the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chairmanship be held by the Democratic Party in the first half and by the United Future Party in the second half, which the Democratic Party rejected.

The United Future Party had argued that, as a check on the government and ruling party, the opposition party should hold the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee as per convention, but at this meeting, it presented a new negotiation proposal. The Democratic Party is reported to have expressed willingness to accept Speaker Park's proposal.

However, Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, reportedly rejected the proposal, saying, "It makes no sense for the party that wins the presidential election to take the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee," and "How can the National Assembly organization be done in such a way?"

Earlier, since Floor Leader Joo had mentioned the idea of splitting the Legislation and Judiciary Committee into separate Legislation and Judiciary Committees, this is interpreted as meaning that the ruling and opposition parties could discuss creating a separate body responsible for detailed legal review.

The Democratic Party also proposed a separate detailed legal review body composed of experts under the Speaker of the National Assembly. The Democratic Party is also reported to have expressed willingness to partially accept the United Future Party's demand for a parliamentary audit on the premise of normalizing the National Assembly during negotiations.

The ruling and opposition parties are scheduled to continue negotiations at a floor leaders' meeting presided over by Speaker Park on the 28th. Since Speaker Park announced that a plenary session will be held at 2 p.m. on the 29th, there is a prospect that the negotiations on the 28th could be the final round.