June National Assembly Push for Yellow Envelope Act?... First Workshop of Democratic Party Floor Leadership

June National Assembly Operation Plan and Economic Free Presentation
Policy Direction Discussion Ahead of General Election Phase

The floor leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea held its first workshop on the 2nd to discuss plans for national governance in the second half of the year. Amid demands for innovation both inside and outside the party ahead of the general election, they exchanged opinions on various in-house strategies including the economy and youth.

On the same day, the Democratic Party floor leadership held a closed-door floor representatives' workshop at the National Assembly in the afternoon to discuss the operation plan for the June extraordinary session and major agendas for the second half of the year. Before the workshop began, floor spokesperson Kim Han-gyu told reporters, "This is a meeting where the floor leadership gathers to discuss the basic direction on how to lead the floor going forward," adding, "Since this is a floor strategy, it will not be disclosed."

The workshop proceeded with Floor Senior Deputy Representative Song Ki-heon explaining the operation plan for the June extraordinary session and affiliated lawmakers presenting their opinions. In the June extraordinary session, there is a high possibility that the opposition-led bills on the three broadcasting laws (Broadcasting Act, Broadcasting Culture Promotion Act, Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act) submitted to the plenary session and the request for plenary submission of the Yellow Envelope Act (Amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Labor Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act) will pass, and it appears that overall policy matters including these were discussed.

Additionally, party economic experts, Representatives Hong Seong-guk and Lee Yong-woo, explained the situation of the Korean economy and emphasized the need to change the party’s economic policy direction. Before the workshop, Representative Hong told this outlet in a phone interview, "We plan to brief on the economic situation after the second half of this year and discuss strategies by identifying the party’s problems." Representative Lee also explained, "We will present what policies we have pursued incorrectly and the direction we should take going forward," adding, "We will point out the parts where the Democratic Party misunderstood the market."

Park Kwang-on, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly on the 25th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Spokesperson Kim reportedly made a free speech on youth issues that day. He expressed the view that youth policies should be publicized at the party level.

In addition, external expert Jeong Han-ul, a senior researcher at Korea Research, attended and gave a lecture on "Changes in the Voter Landscape in the Second Year of the Yoon Seok-yeol Government."

However, it appears that discussions on current issues such as the distribution of standing committee chairmanships and the formation of the Innovation Committee, which have recently caused controversy within the party, were not held. Spokesperson Kim explained, "There will be no discussion on the distribution of standing committee chairmanships or the formation of the Innovation Committee," adding, "If the floor internally discusses the election of standing committee chairpersons, there will be objections again at the party caucus."