"Always Misstep" Pro-Moon Faction Furious at Democratic Party for Handing Judiciary Committee to 'Gukhim' [Han Seung-gon's Political Notebook]

Ruling and Opposition Parties Agree to Redistribute Standing Committee Chairs 11 to 7
National Assembly Judiciary Committee Chair to Be Held by People Power Party After Next Year's Presidential Election

Speaker of the National Assembly Park Byeong-seok (center), Yoon Ho-jung, Floor Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (right), and Kim Ki-hyun, Floor Leader of the People Power Party (left), are holding up the agreement document after reaching an agreement on the supplementary budget and the distribution of standing committee chairmanships in the Speaker's office of the National Assembly on the afternoon of the 23rd.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] "This is really unacceptable." , "What on earth is the Democratic Party doing?"

As the ruling and opposition parties dramatically agreed on the redistribution of standing committee chairmanships in the National Assembly on the 23rd, supporters of the Democratic Party of Korea are showing strong reactions. Among ruling party supporters, there are criticisms that the giant ruling party with 180 seats (currently 171 seats) appeared powerless.

While there may be various political calculations for the Democratic Party, regarding the key issue of the Chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which the People Power Party agreed to take in the latter half of the 21st National Assembly, the strong pro-Moon Jae-in faction (Chinmun) is voicing harsh criticism such as "Please, Democratic Party, get your act together," "Always missing the mark," and "Is reform over now?"

On the 23rd, Yoon Ho-jung, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, and Kim Ki-hyun, the floor leader of the People Power Party, held a series of meetings chaired by Park Byeong-seug, Speaker of the National Assembly, and announced that the distribution of standing committee chairmanships for the first half of the 21st National Assembly would be 11 to 7. The Democratic Party will take 11 standing committee chairmanships including the Operations Committee, Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Strategy and Finance Committee, Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, National Defense Committee, Public Administration and Security Committee, Industry and Energy Committee, Health and Welfare Committee, Intelligence Committee, and Gender Equality and Family Committee.

The People Power Party will take 7 chairmanships including the Political Affairs Committee, Education Committee, Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock and Food Industry Committee, Environment and Labor Committee, Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, and Special Committee on Budget and Accounts. Regarding the Chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the People Power Party will take it in the latter half of the 21st National Assembly, but the committee's functions will be limited to systematic and detailed review.

Yun Ho-jung, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the meeting of floor leaders of the two parties chaired by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok, held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 21st.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Speaker Park said, "It is fortunate that the National Assembly reached an agreement for the people exhausted by COVID-19 and the heatwave," and urged both parties to "operate the National Assembly smoothly to respond to the will of the people."

Yoon Ho-jung, floor leader of the Democratic Party, said, "The issue of distributing standing committee chairmanships has been stalled for 1 year and 2 months," and added, "Through this agreement, we have opened the door to adjusting and improving the functions of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee so that it can become a normal standing committee."

Kim Ki-hyun, floor leader of the People Power Party, said, "We reached an agreement to restore abnormality to normal," and stated, "We will strive to make the National Assembly function well as a place of cooperation going forward."

Earlier, in June last year, negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties on the organization of the first half of the 21st National Assembly broke down. Since then, the Democratic Party has held all 17 standing committee chairmanships for over a year, causing various conflicts. The opposition even harshly criticized this as "legislative dictatorship" and "destruction of democracy."

The problem lies in the strong backlash from the Democratic Party’s hardcore supporters. On an online community where many Democratic Party supporters gather, netizens expressed outrage, saying, "Is this the 'Together People Power Party'?" Another netizen pointed out, "This is the most incomprehensible situation. The people want reform, but they have already forgotten everything."

Speaker Park Byeong-seok is striking the gavel to declare the opening of the 2nd plenary session of the 389th National Assembly (extraordinary session) held on the evening of the 23rd at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

A Democratic Party supporter in his 30s who works at a company said, "I am not a hardcore supporter, but there must be a reason why we concentrated our votes on the Democratic Party," adding, "Communicating with the opposition is good, but this is going too far, which is the reaction of supporters around me." Kim, a 40-year-old office worker, criticized, "I am just disappointed," and said, "It was the same with the Seoul mayoral election, and honestly, I don’t know what they are trying to do with the upcoming presidential election."

Meanwhile, on the same day, Kim Ki-hyun, floor leader of the People Power Party, met reporters right after a party meeting at the National Assembly and emphasized, "It is meaningful that we reached an agreement for the People Power Party to take the Chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee in the second half." He added, "It is natural that we take the chairmanship immediately as part of restoring the Legislation and Judiciary Committee to normal."

Kim also said, "Not all aspects of the negotiation are satisfactory," but emphasized, "There was even an approach that 'the party that wins the presidential election next year will take the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.' However, we eliminated ambiguous or unclear expressions and reached an agreement that 'the People Power Party will take the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.'"