Ruling Party's First Judiciary Committee Meeting After Return: Shouts of "No Courtesy" and "No Greetings"

People Power Party's First Attendance at Standing Committee After 22nd Opening
Ruling Party: "Did Not Discuss Schedule with Ruling Party Whip"
Opposition: "Did the Ruling Party Not Attend When Whip Was Appointed?"

The first joint plenary meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, attended by both ruling and opposition parties, was held in the 22nd National Assembly. Members of the People Power Party strongly opposed the lack of coordination with the ruling party regarding the schedule for the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee at the start of the meeting.

On the morning of the 25th, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee held a plenary meeting to consider four bills that had passed the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee on the 18th. Six members of the People Power Party?Park Hyung-soo, Song Seok-jun, Woo Jae-joon, Yoo Sang-beom, Jang Dong-hyuk, and Joo Jin-woo?attended the meeting for the first time. Gwak Gyu-taek of the People Power Party was absent due to scheduling conflicts.

Member Yoo Sang-beom stated that it was inappropriate to handle bills without a ruling party floor leader being appointed. Before the meeting began, he attempted to make a procedural statement, which led to a heated exchange between ruling and opposition party members. Yoo protested to Chairman Jeong Cheong-rae, saying, "Shouldn't the agenda be confirmed in advance with the ruling party floor leader? This is disrespectful." In response, Jang Kyung-tae of the Democratic Party shouted, "Please sit down and introduce yourself first. Haven't you even greeted us yet?" Chairman Jeong replied, "Weren't you absent when the floor leader was appointed?" and temporarily adjourned the meeting to calm the disturbance.

Jeong Cheong-rae, Chairman of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee (left), Yoo Sang-beom, People Power Party member (center), and Kim Seung-won, Democratic Party secretary, are debating at the 4th plenary meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee held at the National Assembly on the 25th. At the meeting, ruling party members attended for the first time in a month to submit and review amendments to the Broadcasting Act, the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Act, the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act, and the Korea Communications Commission Act. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

After the meeting resumed, members of the People Power Party officially spoke during their greetings. Park Hyung-soo apologized, saying, "We deeply regret showing such a scene from the start to the public," and added, "The 22nd National Assembly should not repeat the mistakes of the 21st and should demonstrate a proper standing committee." Song Seok-jun said, "The loud exchanges before the official start of the standing committee, witnessed by the public, should be avoided in the future," and added, "I would appreciate Chairman Jeong’s good management of the proceedings. It would be great to create the most admirable standing committee."

Park Eun-jung of the Innovation Party for Justice demanded an apology from the People Power Party for their late attendance at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. Park is the only member of the opposition party on the committee. She said, "Even though it has been a month since the National Assembly convened, members of the People Power Party have not attended the Legislation and Judiciary Committee," and added, "But I have never heard a proper apology regarding this." Jang Dong-hyuk of the People Power Party responded, "If given the opportunity today, I wanted to express our apologies to the public for not attending the standing committee on time, regardless of the reasons," and said, "We apologize to the public for not completing consultations smoothly and for not attending promptly."

Subsequently, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee discussed the so-called ‘Broadcasting Three Acts’ (amendments to the Broadcasting Act, the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Agency Act, and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act) and the amendment to the Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Korea Communications Commission. These four bills are being promoted as party policies by the Democratic Party and had passed the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee on the 18th solely with opposition party votes.