Increase in Regional Aides Amid Growing Concerns Over Next Year's General Election Following Local Elections
Advantage of Strengthening Communication with Local Residents
Criticism That It Contradicts the Original Purpose of the Aide System, Which Is Legislative Support
[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] The staff composition in the offices of National Assembly members is changing. While policy aides who handle legislative matters are being reduced, there is a significant increase in regional aides who manage constituency issues. This can strengthen communication with the constituents who elected the lawmakers, but there are also criticisms that this trend does not align with the original purpose of the aide system, which is to support legislative work.
Looking at the job postings for National Assembly aides on the 7th, multiple recruitment announcements are posted daily. Among these, it is not uncommon to find postings for staff to work at the lawmakers’ regional offices.
The phenomenon of increasing regional aides and decreasing policy aides is occurring throughout many lawmakers’ offices, albeit to varying degrees. A first-term lawmaker from Seoul replaced almost all aides immediately after the local elections. A second-term lawmaker from the metropolitan area, known for expertise in policy, reduced policy-related staff from three to two and reassigned the reduced position to regional staff. Although adding interns was considered, the burden of training new personnel led to the decision to maintain the existing staff only.
Kim Nam-guk, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, assigned all staff except those answering phones at the National Assembly members’ office building to regional offices. In a phone interview with Asia Economy, Kim said, "People say they want to communicate with the public only during elections, but it doesn’t work well, so I thought we should really enable communication in the region, which is why I moved even the aides to the region." He added, "Since they stay in the region, it is easier for local residents to visit, which is an advantage." Kim explained, "(Usually, one or two aides are sent to the region) but in my constituency (Ansan-si Danwon-gu Eul), five are stationed there," and "I also alternate between Seoul and the region every two or three days."
Regarding concerns about legislative or parliamentary work gaps, Kim said, "There is absolutely no problem," and explained, "Work can be done remotely, so there is no issue performing duties in the region."
In political circles, there is a kind of conventional wisdom about aides. Lawmakers who focus on legislative activities in the first half of the National Assembly session tend to concentrate on regional activities in the second half. This is because they cannot ignore the next general election. Accordingly, aides also relocate.
Especially unlike the last general election where the Democratic Party achieved a landslide victory, this election saw the People Power Party win decisively, causing shifts in regional strongholds and weakholds, which has increased lawmakers’ anxiety. However, unlike the results for metropolitan government heads, where candidates from other parties were elected in basic local government head elections, the trend of straight-ticket voting has weakened and split-ticket voting has strengthened. This is why lawmakers are focusing intensely on their constituencies. Even if party support is low, there remains a possibility of re-election depending on their own efforts.
An official from the National Assembly explained, "The tendency to increase regional aides is stronger in this National Assembly." The official said, "When elections are perceived as unfavorable, regional aides are reinforced," and added, "This time, because the local election results differed significantly from the general election results, anxiety has increased especially among first-term lawmakers, leading to an increase in regional aides."
A first-term lawmaker also cited the impact of COVID-19. Due to the pandemic over the past two years, regional gatherings disappeared, so there was relatively little need to attend local events. However, as quarantine rules have been revised and local schedules have increased recently, they have been able to manage not only current but also previously neglected regional matters.
There are also critical voices regarding the expansion of regional aides. Lee Kwang-jae, Secretary General of the Manifesto Movement Headquarters, said, "The purpose of the National Assembly aide system is to assist with legislation," and criticized, "It is not intended to support lawmakers’ election campaigns."
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