"‘The Voice of the People, We Go to the End’ Rep. Yoon Young-deok Proposes ‘National Assembly Act Amendment’"

Over 100,000 Signatures on National Petitions Will Continue to Be Reviewed Without Expiration Due to Term Limits

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] A bill has been proposed to allow national consent petitions, which have obtained the agreement of more than 100,000 people to hear the voices of the people until the end, to continue to be reviewed even if the term of a member of the National Assembly expires, instead of being discarded.

On the 26th, National Assembly member Yoon Young-deok (The Democratic Party of Korea, Gwangju Dongnam-gap) announced that he had taken the lead in proposing the "Partial Amendment to the National Assembly Act" on the 25th.

Under the current system, when a member of the National Assembly's term ends, bills submitted to the National Assembly are automatically discarded under the name of "expiration of term discard."

Petitions submitted by the people through the National Assembly are also automatically discarded like bills when the term of the National Assembly member expires.

Regarding this, there are criticisms that for national petitions, review should continue in the next National Assembly without "expiration of term discard."

In particular, there is an opinion that automatically discarding national consent petitions, which have been submitted with the agreement of more than 100,000 people through the electronic petition system, just because the term of the National Assembly member has expired, is a regulation that excessively restricts the people's right to petition.

Rep. Yoon emphasized, "Among the seven petitions submitted with the agreement of more than 100,000 people in the 20th National Assembly, five were discarded due to expiration of term without completing the review, and three of them were not even presented. Since petitions are complaints raised by the people, not submitted by the National Assembly or government, they should continue to be reviewed without being discarded due to expiration of term."

The "Partial Amendment to the National Assembly Act," led by Rep. Yoon, was co-sponsored by 18 members including Ki Dong-min, Kim Seung-nam, Kim Seung-won, Noh Woong-rae, Min Hyung-bae, Park Young-soon, Song Gap-seok, Shin Jeong-hoon, Yoon Joon-byung, Lee Kwang-jae, Lee Kyu-min, Lee Dong-joo, Lee Byung-hoon, Lee Yong-bin, Lee Hyung-seok, In Jae-geun, Jo Oh-seop, and Jin Sung-jun.

Meanwhile, Rep. Yoon also proposed the "Partial Amendment to the Administrative Procedures Act," which activates electronic public hearings in response to COVID-19, and the "Partial Amendment to the Private School Act," which requires private school corporations to notify on the school website in advance when convening a board of directors. Detailed information can be found in the National Assembly Bill Information System.