The 'Beopsawi 2Sowi' Entering the Grave... Have They Found the Path to Revival?

The 2nd Subcommittee of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee Held Its First Meeting Only on the 25th of Last Month
Hasty Legislation Continues, Leading to More Bills Going to the 2nd Subcommittee
Yun Hojung, Chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Says "I No Longer Think of the 2nd Subcommittee as Hamheung"

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] There is a movement to revive the Legislation and Judiciary Committee’s Bill Review Subcommittee 2 (hereinafter 2nd Subcommittee), which had lost its reason for existence. This is the result of repeated issues with hasty legislation and the opposition party’s efforts to reclaim the role of the 2nd Subcommittee.

According to the National Assembly on the 2nd, since the Assembly convened, the 2nd Subcommittee has met only once on the 25th of last month, and there are only seven bills pending.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Kim Do-eup, a member of the People Power Party and vice-chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee’s 2nd Subcommittee, explained in a phone interview with Asia Economy, “There have been quite a few bills that were deeply reviewed but later ruled unconstitutional, so even when I raised the issue of referring them to the 2nd Subcommittee, the chairman passed them through. Even when I suggested discussing them in the 2nd Subcommittee, it was frequently not accepted.”

The Legislation and Judiciary Committee’s 2nd Subcommittee reviews bills that have passed other standing committees but may violate the Constitution or conflict with other laws. In the past, when bills were referred to the 2nd Subcommittee, the schedule for processing them became uncertain, earning it the nickname ‘the graveyard of bills.’ However, in the 21st National Assembly, it was not the bills but the ‘2nd Subcommittee’ itself that became the graveyard.

The 2nd Subcommittee was effectively neglected because the ruling party, the Democratic Party of Korea, distrusted it. For example, on the 26th of last month, Kim Nam-guk of the Democratic Party said at a full meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, “Referring a bill to the 2nd Subcommittee is practically the same as not knowing when the bill will be passed.”

Recently, signs of change have appeared. During the February extraordinary session, laws such as the ‘Act on Suicide Prevention and the Promotion of a Culture Respecting Life’ and the ‘Special Act on the Preservation and Promotion of Historic Districts’ were referred to the 2nd Subcommittee. This is a different situation compared to the previous Assembly, where only five bills were referred.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This change is largely due to hasty legislation. Bills that had unresolved disagreements between ministries were passed to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and the ruling party could not oppose the opposition’s calls to refer them to the 2nd Subcommittee. For example, the Suicide Prevention Act was referred to the 2nd Subcommittee because disagreements between the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Justice were not properly resolved.

It is also notable that the ruling party itself is now using the option to refer bills to the 2nd Subcommittee. For instance, the ‘Special Act on the Preservation and Promotion of Historic Districts,’ originally proposed by Kim Seok-ki of the People Power Party, was referred to the 2nd Subcommittee at the request of Song Ki-heon of the Democratic Party and Choi Kang-wook of the Open Democratic Party.

The opposition’s appeals also played a role. In particular, Kim appealed, “The chairman and the Democratic Party think that bills referred to the 2nd Subcommittee will be discarded, but I ask them to change their thinking.” In response, Yoon Ho-jung, chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee from the Democratic Party, referenced the Korean idiom Hamheungchasa, which describes someone who goes to Hamheung and never returns or returns late, saying, “I will no longer think of the 2nd Subcommittee as Hamheung.”