The Increasingly Complicated 'Won-guseong Negotiations'... The Hidden Story Behind 26 Days of Parliamentary Standstill

Disclosure of Negotiation Details Amid Expos? Battle
Opposition Aims for Comprehensive Political Issue Resolution... Ruling Party Says No Chance
Ruling Party Proposes Special Committee on West Sea Official Killing
Opposition Demands Formation of Criminal Procedure Special Committee and Withdrawal of Constitutional Court Lawsuit on 검수완박
Distribution of Prime 'Standing Committees' Also a Challenge

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] The negotiations for the National Assembly's organization are struggling to find a breakthrough. The ruling and opposition parties are presenting various cards to each other, starting with the long-standing issue of the Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. Besides the issues revealed through the parties' 'exposure war,' there is also an analysis that the distribution of standing committee chairpersons has been concealed recently.

A key opposition official explained on the 24th, "Who takes what position remains a contentious issue." Earlier, during the organization negotiations, the Democratic Party handed over the chairmanships of the coveted committees?Political Affairs, Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Education, Culture, Sports and Tourism, Environment and Labor, Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, and Budget and Accounts?to the People Power Party. Now that the ruling and opposition parties have switched, the distribution of standing committee chairpersons should change accordingly. The opposition official said, "There are standing committees that are usually held by the ruling party," adding, "Committees like the Steering Committee, Strategy and Finance Committee, National Defense Committee, and Public Administration and Security Committee fall into this category, and there needs to be a process of exchanging these positions."

The confrontation between the parties began over which party would take the Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. According to last year's agreement between the ruling and opposition parties, the People Power Party should hold the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. However, Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, argued that negotiations for the second half of the year between floor leaders of the first half were an overreach and insisted on reopening discussions. Nonetheless, within the Democratic Party, there is growing recognition that demanding the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee is excessive, so the current core issue is adjusting the committee's authority over systematic and detailed review. Regarding this issue, the People Power Party proposes creating a separate discussion channel after the organization is finalized, but the Democratic Party is opposed to this.

However, the front has now expanded. As negotiations have prolonged, both parties have exposed negotiation details to each other. According to both sides, the People Power Party proposed forming a special committee at the National Assembly level concerning the killing of public officials in the West Sea, while the Democratic Party brought to the negotiation table cooperation in forming a National Assembly Judicial Reform Special Committee for follow-up legislation on the "complete removal of prosecutorial investigation rights" (Geomsu Wanbak) law and the withdrawal of the Constitutional Court's jurisdictional dispute petition.

Recently, however, the negotiations became more complicated with claims that there is an 'effort to save Lee Jae-myung' behind the People Power Party floor leader Kwon Seong-dong's negotiation stance. It was alleged that as a condition for the organization, the Democratic Party demanded the withdrawal of lawsuits and complaints related to Lee Jae-myung, the former presidential candidate. The Democratic Party vehemently denied this, saying, "We haven't even mentioned Lee Jae-myung's name." They explained that they only referred to the customary withdrawal of lawsuits and complaints after elections.

From what has been revealed so far, the Democratic Party intends to resolve contentious issues between the ruling and opposition parties collectively based on the organization negotiations. Despite defeats in the presidential and local elections, they aim to change the situation in the National Assembly where they hold the majority. The People Power Party, on the other hand, shows an attitude of discussing issues separately and focusing on the organization negotiations. They do not intend to simply follow the Democratic Party's plan.