Ruling and Opposition Parties to Reopen Recommendation Committee for Public Corruption Investigation Office Chief... Differences Remain (Comprehensive)

Speaker Park's 'Restart' Request Accepted by Both Parties... Temporary Relief
Ruling Party "Won't Delay" vs Opposition "Until Candidate Emerges" Sharp Disagreement

Speaker of the National Assembly Park Byeong-seok attended the regular meeting of the ruling and opposition floor leaders held on the 23rd at the Speaker's Office of the National Assembly, posing with participants including Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] On the 23rd, the ruling and opposition parties agreed to reconvene the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (HCIA) Chief Candidate Recommendation Committee under the mediation of National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok.

The ruling and opposition parties, which had been on the brink of collapse, have tentatively accepted the mediation proposal to restart the candidate recommendation committee, but their positions remain sharply divided, making the candidate recommendation process still expected to be difficult.

Speaker Park met for about an hour and a half in the afternoon with Kim Tae-nyeon of the Democratic Party and Joo Ho-young of the People Power Party, the floor leaders, and told reporters, "I requested the HCIA Chief Candidate Recommendation Committee to be reconvened as soon as possible for further discussion," adding, "There were no objections from the floor leaders of either party to my proposal."

According to the HCIA Act, the recommendation committee can be convened at the request of the National Assembly Speaker, at the request of one-third or more of the recommendation committee members, or when the chairperson deems it necessary. Seeing no sign of improvement in the situation, the Speaker directly requested the reconvening. Right after the meeting, Speaker Park called Cho Jae-yeon, the chairperson of the recommendation committee and head of the Court Administration Office, asking him to "convene the meeting as soon as possible."

With the Speaker directly requesting the reconvening and the floor leaders accepting it, the HCIA Chief Candidate Recommendation Committee is expected to resume its activities. It is reported that the committee is coordinating to hold a meeting on the 25th.

However, the positions of the ruling and opposition parties have not changed.

The Democratic Party accepted Speaker Park's proposal but plans to simultaneously proceed with the amendment of the HCIA Act to remove the opposition party's veto power, considering the possibility that the candidate recommendation might fail again. Floor leader Kim said to reporters after the meeting, "Under no circumstances will we allow the HCIA to fail to launch due to the opposition party's intentional delay tactics."

He reaffirmed the existing stance to discuss the amendment bill in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee subcommittee on the 25th, hold the full committee meeting on the 30th, and pass the HCIA Act amendment bill by the plenary session in early December.

On the other hand, the People Power Party insists that discussions in the recommendation committee should continue until a candidate acceptable to the opposition party emerges. Floor leader Joo said, "I strongly demanded that, in line with the purpose of the current HCIA Act, efforts should continue in the recommendation committee until a candidate whom the opposition party can readily agree on is found."

While the mediation proposal to restart the candidate recommendation committee has temporarily prevented a clash between the ruling and opposition parties, the gap between their positions is so large, and conflicts remain over where to restart the recommendation process and how long to operate the committee, making it uncertain whether the recommendation committee discussions will proceed smoothly.

In particular, since the People Power Party strongly opposes the ruling party's amendment of the HCIA Act and the ruling party remains determined to push it forward, if there is no progress in the recommendation committee discussions, extreme confrontation in the future seems inevitable.

Meanwhile, Speaker Park reportedly requested the floor leaders not to engage in any actions that could influence the candidates recommended by each party, according to Han Minsu, the public relations chief. Han explained, "He said it would be better if they did not evaluate the candidates," meaning "the ruling and opposition parties should refrain from making any evaluations or criticisms of the opposing candidates."