Democratic Party Completes National Assembly Organization Alone... Speaker Park Says "I Will Face History's Fearful Judgment"

Speaker of the National Assembly Park Byeong-seok is opening the plenary session of the National Assembly on the 29th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy reporters Kang Nahum and Jeon Jinyoung] The Democratic Party of Korea completed the organization of the National Assembly on the 29th by taking all 17 standing committee chair positions. This is the first time in 35 years since the 12th National Assembly in 1985 that a single party has monopolized all standing committee chairmanships. Speaker Park Byeong-seok commented on the ruling party's monopoly of the standing committees, saying, "The Speaker and both ruling and opposition parties will face the fearful judgment of the people and history."

On the afternoon of the same day, during the plenary session held without any members of the United Future Party present, the Democratic Party elected 11 standing committee chairs including the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts and the Steering Committee, effectively completing the organization of the National Assembly. A total of 181 lawmakers from the Democratic Party and other pro-government parties participated in the vote.

The standing committee chairs elected that day were all members of the Democratic Party: ▲ Steering Committee Chair Kim Tae-nyeon ▲ Political Affairs Committee Chair Yoon Kwan-seok ▲ Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee Chair Jin Sun-mi ▲ Education Committee Chair Yoo Ki-hong ▲ Budget and Accounts Committee Chair Jung Sung-ho ▲ Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee Chair Park Kwang-on ▲ Environment and Labor Committee Chair Song Ok-joo ▲ Administration and Security Committee Chair Seo Young-kyo ▲ Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee Chair Do Jong-hwan ▲ Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee Chair Lee Gae-ho ▲ Women and Family Committee Chair Jung Chun-sook. Including the six standing committee chairs elected on the 15th, the Democratic Party monopolized all 17 standing committee chair positions. However, the Intelligence Committee Chair was not elected as it is legally designated for the opposition party under the National Assembly Act.

Before the election of the standing committee chairs, Speaker Park stated, "It has been a month since the 21st National Assembly began, but we have not held an opening ceremony or organized the Assembly, and I sincerely apologize to the people."

He explained, "The ruling and opposition parties prepared a draft agreement for the organization yesterday, but the opposition party did not approve it. We could no longer ignore the urgent appeals of the people and businesses, so we decided to complete the organization today."

Speaker Park requested, "Nothing can come before the people and national interest. I hope that both ruling and opposition parties will sincerely open their hearts and do their best for smooth National Assembly operations even at this late stage," adding, "The Speaker and both ruling and opposition parties will face the fearful judgment of the people and history."

Earlier, the ruling and opposition parties attempted final negotiations for the organization starting the previous day. Especially after marathon talks the day before reportedly brought significant consensus, political circles expected an agreement at least by the morning of the day. In fact, it was reported that both parties even drafted a memorandum of understanding.

On the afternoon of the 26th, Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, was leaving after holding a meeting with floor leaders of both ruling and opposition parties presided over by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok in the Speaker's office at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. When asked by reporters about the progress of the negotiation on the organization of the National Assembly, Floor Leader Joo replied, "Discussions are ongoing, but no conclusion has been reached. We decided to continue the discussions." Photo by Kang Jin-hyeong aymsdream@

However, the two parties ultimately failed to resolve the conflict over the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, said, "During the negotiation process, the Democratic Party broke long-standing customs and traditions by unilaterally taking the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee," adding, "In this situation, we concluded that taking seven standing committee chairs proposed by the Democratic Party would have little meaning in terms of checks and balances."

He continued, "Our party judged that not being able to take the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and even splitting it as a compromise, means the Democratic Party is rejecting coexistence and cooperation and is unilaterally running the National Assembly. Taking standing committee chairs would only cause accusations of being a mere figurehead or obstructionist."

Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the Democratic Party, blamed the United Future Party for the collapse of the organizational agreement, saying, "The Democratic Party made the maximum concessions possible, but the United Future Party communicated a refusal."

Based on the standing committees formed that day, the Democratic Party immediately began reviewing the 3rd supplementary budget bill. With the Budget and Accounts Committee starting operations on the 30th, the plan is to complete the supplementary budget reviews in each standing committee within the day. To expedite the review, subcommittees will not be formed; instead, deliberations and resolutions will be conducted in full committee meetings.

Meanwhile, the Justice Party, classified as a pro-government party, abstained from the standing committee chair elections as a protest against the abnormal National Assembly situation. Kang Eun-mi, floor spokesperson for the Justice Party, said in a briefing before the plenary session, "The allocation of standing committee chairs is a right given only to negotiation groups, but since the two major negotiation groups failed to reach an agreement, all 18 standing committee chairs have been monopolized by one party." She added, "The two major parties should remember that the greatest victims of this abnormal National Assembly are the people," and stated, "The Justice Party will focus on reviewing the 3rd supplementary budget bill."