The Democratic Party Agrees to Accept 7 Standing Committee Chairs at the Party Meeting... Floor Leader Choo Kyung-ho Offers Resignation

Chairpersons of Defense and Finance Committees to Be Elected as Early as the 25th

On the 24th, the People Power Party held a party caucus and decided to accept the seven standing committee chair positions in the National Assembly that the Democratic Party left for the ruling party. This came 25 days after the launch of the 22nd National Assembly and 17 days after the deadline for forming the standing committee chairmanships as stipulated by the National Assembly Act.

According to multiple People Power Party lawmakers on the 24th, Floor Leader Choo Kyung-ho put the acceptance of the seven standing committees on the agenda at a closed-door party caucus held at the National Assembly in the morning and received approval from the party members. Accordingly, the election of the chairpersons for the seven standing committees allocated to the ruling party?Foreign Affairs and Unification, National Defense, Planning and Finance, Political Affairs, Women and Family, Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Venture Businesses, and Intelligence?is expected to take place as early as the plenary session on the 25th.

After the caucus, Floor Leader Choo told reporters, "Seeing the 11 standing committees controlled by the Democratic Party, such as the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee, being operated according to the Democratic Party's preferences, it is obvious that the remaining seven standing committees will also be used for political strife," adding, "The People Power Party will take charge of the seven standing committee chair positions to stop the Democratic Party's reckless actions and focus on legislation for the people's livelihood."

Furthermore, Floor Leader Choo said, "There are voices saying that the People Power Party must resist and fight more strongly against the Democratic Party's dogmatic and outrageous behavior, and opinions that question the usefulness of returning to the standing committees and advocate for a hardline struggle," adding, "The ruling party's responsibility to take care of the difficult livelihood issues strikes my heart."

Chu Kyung-ho, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending a party meeting held at the National Assembly on the 11th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Floor Leader Choo emphasized, "While the major opposition party is absorbed in shielding Lee Jae-myung and competing in loyalty, our People Power Party will do what is best for the people," and added, "We will restore the National Assembly not as 'Lee Jae-myung's National Assembly' but as the 'People's National Assembly.' We will work with the attitude that the lights never go out 24 hours a day for the people's livelihood."

Earlier, on the 10th, the Democratic Party held a plenary session solely with the opposition party and took the 11 standing committee chair positions allocated to the Democratic Party, including the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the Steering Committee, and the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee, which the People Power Party had requested, and pressured that if the remaining seven standing committee chair positions were not accepted, they would monopolize them.

In response, the People Power Party requested the Democratic Party to reconsider the unilateral election of the 11 standing committee chair positions, including the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the Steering Committee, but was rejected. They then proposed additional negotiation plans, such as the People Power Party taking only the Steering Committee chair position or alternating the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and Steering Committee chair positions between the ruling and opposition parties every year, but the Democratic Party rejected all of them.

It was reported that Floor Leader Choo expressed his intention to resign from his position as floor leader on the same day. This is interpreted as taking responsibility for the negotiations with the opposition party regarding the formation of the National Assembly and announcing his resignation.