Joo Ho-young: "No Issues Before Lunar New Year... January National Assembly is a 'Bulletproof Assembly'"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, criticized the January extraordinary session of the National Assembly held solely by the opposition Democratic Party of Korea as a "bulletproof National Assembly."

On the 10th, Joo appeared on KBS's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strong Current Affairs' and said, "We also agreed to hold an extraordinary session after the Lunar New Year holiday, but the Democratic Party held the session immediately from the 9th, right after the December extraordinary session ended on January 8th."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Democratic Party argues for handling livelihood bills such as the Grain Management Act, the Safe Freight System, and the Yellow Envelope Act during the extraordinary session, but Joo expressed opposition, saying, "All these laws either do not fit into the existing legal framework or have side effects."

He added that even if the extraordinary session is not held immediately, the ruling and opposition parties can negotiate, reach an agreement, and then hold the session to process the bills.

He said, "In fact, there are no urgent issues that need to be addressed before the Lunar New Year, and the National Assembly Act stipulates that the Assembly should not convene in January and July. So, we call this a 'bulletproof National Assembly.' Even if there are bills that must be processed as the Democratic Party claims, the session can be postponed by about a week."

Joo claims that this session is a shield for Democratic Party lawmaker Roh Woong-rae and Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung. He pointed out, "Because the extraordinary session started immediately on the 9th, the arrest consent bill for lawmaker Roh has not passed, so the investigation is proceeding without detention," and added, "Even if the prosecution deems it necessary to detain Leader Lee Jae-myung, the arrest consent bill in the National Assembly acts as a shield against the warrant request."