'Proposal to Dismiss Lee Sang-min' Voting in Plenary Session... Focus on Budget Agreement (Comprehensive)

Kim Jin-pyo "If no agreement, government proposal or opposition amendment will be processed"
Joo Ho-young "Lee dismissal motion... parliamentary audit unlikely to be easy"

Minister of the Interior and Safety Sang-min Lee, whose dismissal proposal was reported, is leaving the plenary hall after the Administrative and Safety Committee-related bill processing was completed at the plenary session held at the National Assembly on the 8th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] The National Assembly will hold a plenary session at 10 a.m. on the 11th to submit and vote on the motion to dismiss Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, proposed by the Democratic Party of Korea. The budget bill for the next year, which was expected to be processed on the 11th, will be handled after additional negotiations due to persistent gaps between the ruling and opposition parties, with a plenary session scheduled for 2 p.m. on the 15th.

Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, Floor Leader Joo Ho-young of the People Power Party, and Floor Leader Park Hong-geun of the Democratic Party agreed on this during a meeting on the afternoon of the 10th.

Speaker Kim gave the floor leaders four more days to narrow their differences on the budget bill and related subsidiary laws and to prepare an agreement. Regarding the possibility of failing to reach an agreement during this period, Speaker Kim explained, "As of the 15th, the ruling and opposition parties have agreed to vote on either the government’s submitted bill or the opposition’s (single-party) amendment."

Accordingly, attention is focused on whether the ruling and opposition parties can reach an agreement on the budget bill through additional negotiations before the plenary session on the 15th.

People Power Party Floor Leader Joo Ho-young (left) and Democratic Party Floor Leader Park Hong-geun are negotiating next year's budget in the National Assembly Steering Committee Chairman's office on the morning of the 10th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

In the plenary session, the amendment and the government’s original bill will be put to a vote in that order. If no agreement is reached, the Democratic Party, which holds a majority of 169 seats in the National Assembly, may push through its own amendment and reject the government’s bill. In preparation for a possible failure in budget negotiations, the Democratic Party is reviewing whether to propose an amendment that only reflects cuts to the government-submitted budget.

Floor Leader Park said to reporters immediately after the meeting, "We will make efforts and hope that a mutually agreed amendment between the ruling and opposition parties and the government will be created by then."

The motion to dismiss Minister Lee, proposed by the Democratic Party to hold him accountable for the Itaewon tragedy, was reported to the plenary session on the 8th. If it is not voted on within 72 hours after 24 hours have passed, it will be automatically discarded; the deadline for this is 2 p.m. on the 11th.

The People Power Party will hold a party meeting before the plenary session on the 11th to seek a response strategy regarding the handling of the dismissal motion. The party’s position is that processing the dismissal motion before the start of the Itaewon tragedy parliamentary investigation violates the agreement between the ruling and opposition parties.

Floor Leader Joo told reporters, "Once the dismissal motion is passed, the parliamentary investigation will not be easy," hinting at the possibility of a boycott.