[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, has called for reconsideration of the decision for the People Power Party to take the position of Chairperson of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee (Law and Judiciary Committee Chair) after the presidential election. He also requested a joint stance from other candidates in the party's primary. Since this matter was agreed upon by the Democratic Party leadership and the People Power Party, attention is focused on how the situation will unfold going forward.
On the 26th, Governor Lee posted a message titled "Request to Reconsider Concession of the Law and Judiciary Committee" on Facebook. He said, "I received so many text messages the day before yesterday at dawn that I could hardly work," adding, "Even if it were just a simple majority, I might understand, but considering the overwhelming majority of seats, there is no reason to give up the Law and Judiciary Committee. I earnestly request the party to reconsider conceding the Law and Judiciary Committee."
He also proposed, "I suggest that the Democratic Party's presidential primary candidates declare a joint position requesting reconsideration of the concession of the Law and Judiciary Committee and reduction of its authority."
Furthermore, he mentioned a plan to clearly limit the Law and Judiciary Committee to exercising only formal authority. Governor Lee stated, "In fact, the Law and Judiciary Committee only has the formal authority to review the wording of bills passed by other standing committees, but it has been operated unlawfully and unfairly as a superordinate committee over other standing committees through measures such as tabling," adding, "If the Law and Judiciary Committee is institutionalized to exercise only formal authority such as wording review in accordance with the original intent of the law, and prevented from being abused as a gate to block the passage of bills, this could also be one possible solution."
Governor Lee expressed, "I share the concern that this concession of the Law and Judiciary Committee restricts the will of party members at next year's point in time, as well as the authority of the succeeding floor leader group and party leadership, and that reform legislation could be stalled contrary to the will of the people who gave us a huge majority of 180 seats."
He continued, "Although many advised me to refrain from expressing my dissenting opinion since I am not a member of the floor, I could not ignore the appeals of party members and citizens demanding reform, and as a responsible party member, I concluded that this is not something to overlook."
He also emphasized reform. Governor Lee pointed out, "Reform legislation has not yielded substantial results, like the Kim Yong-gyun Act without Kim Yong-gyun, and the mandatory CCTV law, which 90% of the public supports, has not passed the National Assembly. In this situation, it is difficult for party members and the public to easily accept handing over the Law and Judiciary Committee, which holds omnipotent authority, to the opposition party," adding, "We must seriously accept the criticism that this is not a concession for progress but a retreat of the will to reform."
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