Cancellation of Ruling and Opposition Party Meeting for 22nd Assembly Formation Negotiations... Continued Deadlock

Unable to Narrow Differences on Assembly Formation
Deadline by the 7th of Next Month

The weekend meeting between the ruling and opposition floor leaders to negotiate the organization of the 22nd National Assembly has been canceled.

Choo Kyung-ho, Floor Leader of the People Power Party. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Chu Kyung-ho, floor leader of the People Power Party, Bae Jun-young, deputy floor leader, Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Park Sung-jun, deputy floor leader, were scheduled to meet at an undisclosed location in the city on the afternoon of the 25th, but the meeting has been postponed and a new date will be set.

Accordingly, the deadlock between the ruling and opposition parties over the distribution of standing committee chairmanships in the National Assembly is expected to continue.

A People Power Party official said, "It was a private dinner, but the schedule was made public, which seems to have broken mutual trust," emphasizing, "Not all schedules can be disclosed in order to conduct negotiations seriously." The official added, "The ruling and opposition parties agreed to postpone today's meeting and will set a new date soon to continue talks."

A Democratic Party official countered, "The principle of good faith applies when the content of discussions in a private meeting is leaked outside," and said, "I don't understand the reason for wanting to keep the meeting between the party leaders private."

Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at a meeting on the 21st. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Within the Democratic Party, there is also an interpretation that the ruling party's request to postpone the meeting was influenced by the press conference held by party leader Lee Jae-myung on National Pension reform that day.

Since Lee announced that he would "decisively accept the proposal of a 44% income replacement rate," it is believed that the ruling party leadership needed time for internal discussions.

Currently, the ruling and opposition parties have not narrowed their differences at all regarding the organization of the National Assembly. The Democratic Party insists that it should hold chairmanships of 11 standing committees, including the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the final gatekeeper of bills, and the Steering Committee, which oversees the Presidential Office, out of the 18 committees, while the ruling party should take 7.

The People Power Party counters that, according to National Assembly customs, since the Democratic Party will produce the next Speaker of the National Assembly, the ruling party should hold the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and the Steering Committee chairmanship should also belong to the ruling party.

According to the National Assembly Act, the Speaker and Deputy Speakers must be elected at the first plenary session of the temporary session held immediately after the opening of the Assembly, and standing committee chairpersons must be elected within three days thereafter. Since the first plenary session of the 22nd National Assembly will be held on the 5th of next month, the deadline for negotiating the organization is the 7th, two days later.

If the ruling and opposition parties fail to reach an agreement on the organization and the Democratic Party proceeds with a vote alone, the Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the 22nd National Assembly, could take all the standing committee chairmanships.