On the 23rd, Kwon Chil-seung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, proposed the enactment of the 'National Assembly Security Office Act' to establish a parliamentary police force directly under the Speaker of the National Assembly.
The National Assembly Security Office Act and the amendment to the National Assembly Act, proposed by Representative Kwon on the same day, are measures to prevent police officers deployed to protect the National Assembly during the emergency martial law on the 3rd of last month from controlling the access of National Assembly members and other related personnel.
The amendment includes the establishment of the National Assembly Security Office directly under the Speaker of the National Assembly, which will be subject to the Speaker's command and supervision.
Currently, the National Assembly Security Guard, responsible for guarding the National Assembly, is under the command chain of 'Commissioner General of the National Police Agency - Commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency - Chief of the National Assembly Security Guard.' In political circles, there have been ongoing calls to change the ultimate command authority of the National Assembly Security Guard from the National Police Agency to the Speaker of the National Assembly to prevent paralysis of the National Assembly's functions in situations like emergency martial law.
Representative Kwon emphasized, "The National Assembly, a constitutional institution entrusted with authority by the people, was placed in a crisis of 'powerlessness in exercising authority' due to the illegal emergency martial law situation," and added, "The establishment of the National Assembly Security Office under the Speaker is absolutely necessary to prevent infringement on popular sovereignty."
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