Assemblyman Yoon Young-deok Proposes Amendment to the Political Parties Act to Establish 'City and Province Party Policy Research Institutes'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] A bill has been proposed to strengthen the policy capabilities of city and provincial party organizations to respond to regional issues.

On the 7th, Representative Yoon Young-deok (The Democratic Party of Korea·Gwangju Dongnam-gap) announced that he has taken the lead in proposing the "Partial Amendment to the Political Parties Act," which allows city and provincial party organizations to establish policy research institutes as separate legal entities if necessary.

Under the current law, policy research institutes can be established as separate legal entities within the central party to promote policy development and research activities.

Additionally, policy research institutes are allowed to operate paid administrative staff beyond the limited number stipulated by the Political Parties Act, and at least 30% of the total general subsidies provided to political parties must be allocated to them.

However, some city and provincial party organizations that operate their own policy research institutes lack regulations regarding their establishment and operation, resulting in the division of allocated staff quotas and government subsidies. This has raised concerns that it is difficult to conduct substantial research tailored to regional characteristics.

The amendment allows city and provincial party organizations to introduce policy research institutes as separate legal entities when necessary and provides separate support for staff quotas and budgets apart from the city and provincial party organizations.

Representative Yoon stated, "City and provincial party organizations should be able to realize policy parties and true grassroots democracy through research activities suited to the era of decentralization," and added, "The passage of this amendment will strengthen the capacity of city and provincial party organizations to discover and develop policies reflecting regional characteristics."