The Democratic Party and Woo Won-shik also absent from meeting with National Assembly Speaker... Opposition expresses "deep regret"

Park Chan-dae "Will negotiate the formation of the assembly by the 7th"
People Power Party likely to respond to public livelihood centered on special committee

On the 5th, members of the People Power Party boycotted the plenary session held at the National Assembly to elect the Speaker, calling it "Democratic Party's parliamentary dictatorship." Only Choo Kyung-ho, the floor leader of the People Power Party, made a parliamentary procedure speech in the plenary hall before leaving.

On the 5th, when the first plenary session of the 22nd National Assembly was held, members of the People Power Party held a protest rally at the entrance of the plenary hall, saying, "The Democratic Party should stop unilateral parliamentary dominance without agreement." Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

When Floor Leader Choo did not participate in the first meeting between newly elected Speaker Woo Won-shik and the floor leaders of both parties, Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, expressed his regret, saying, "It is very disappointing." He showed his disappointment over the absence despite it being the first meeting between the ruling and opposition parties since Speaker Woo's inauguration.

Floor Leader Park said, "The election of the Speaker should have proceeded according to the National Assembly Act, but they did not even attend the opening of the plenary session and only made a parliamentary procedure speech before leaving, which is very regrettable," emphasizing, "The public expects a working National Assembly, but it is disappointing that the process did not start off properly from the beginning."

He also stressed, "As Speaker Woo mentioned in his first remarks, the proposal for the composition of standing committees must be submitted within two days from the day of the Speaker's election (the 5th)," adding, "Since the 6th is a public holiday, both parties agreed to submit their proposals for the standing committee composition by midnight on the 7th and to make efforts to reach an agreement even if it means working overnight."

After finishing a meeting with the Special Committee Chairpersons on Livelihood Issues, Floor Leader Choo told reporters, "While observing the process of electing the Speaker, we discussed revitalizing the Special Committee on Livelihood Issues." Regarding Speaker Woo's statement that the committee formation must be completed by the 7th, he replied, "We will consider it," adding, "Since we fundamentally cannot accept the procedure of selection in the plenary session today, it does not seem appropriate to comment on each detail."

Earlier, as negotiations on the committee formation faced difficulties, the People Power Party decided to form 14 special committees on livelihood issues to respond to pressing public concerns. Floor Leader Choo emphasized, "Centered on the Policy Committee, the number of special committees may increase from 14 to 15," adding, "We will focus intensively on these 14 to 15 special committees, where proposals related to relevant bills will be made."