Plan to Split Ministry of Economy and Finance Passes,
Financial Services Commission Reform Excluded
Key Bills Expected to Be Processed by September 29
Five-Day Filibuster Standoff Looms
Opposition Launches Filibuster Against Broadcasting Media Communications Bill
The first amendment to the Government Organization Act under the Lee Jaemyung administration passed the plenary session of the National Assembly on September 26, led by the Democratic Party of Korea. The People Power Party immediately launched a filibuster against the bill to establish the Broadcasting Media Communications Committee, which was presented right after. With this sweeping amendment to the Government Organization Act, the government structure will undergo significant changes.
On the afternoon of the same day, the National Assembly approved the amendment to the Government Organization Act at its plenary session. Lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and other progressive parties participated in the vote and cast their ballots in favor, while members of the People Power Party, who opposed the bill and referred to it as the “Government Organization Deterioration Act,” abstained from the vote.
The core of the amendment is the abolition of the Prosecutors’ Office and the establishment of the Serious Crimes Investigation Office and the Prosecution Office, which separates the investigative and prosecutorial functions of the prosecution. The bill also includes a plan to remove the budgetary function from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and split it into the Planning and Budget Office under the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance and Economy. However, the proposal to abolish the Financial Services Commission, which the People Power Party had opposed, was excluded from the revised bill prepared by the government and the ruling party just before the plenary session. As a result, internal conflict within the Ministry of Economy and Finance appears inevitable, since it lost its budgetary function and failed to absorb financial policy authority.
The original government proposal was designed to divide the Ministry of Economy and Finance, creating the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Planning and Budget Office, with the Ministry of Finance and Economy absorbing the domestic financial policy functions of the Financial Services Commission. However, with this plan scrapped, the functions and organizational size of the Ministry of Finance and Economy will be significantly reduced compared to the initial proposal. Since the budget authority will be transferred to the Planning and Budget Office and the Ministry of Finance and Economy will not acquire financial policy functions, internal dissatisfaction is growing over the diminished status of the Ministry of Finance and Economy.
Following the passage of the Government Organization Act amendment, the National Assembly will present the bill to establish the Broadcasting Media Communications Committee. This bill aims to integrate the broadcasting-related functions previously divided between the Korea Communications Commission and the Ministry of Science and ICT into a new committee. The People Power Party plans to counter this with another filibuster.
The Democratic Party of Korea plans to sequentially process three key bills after the Government Organization Act and the Broadcasting Media Communications Committee establishment bill: the amendment to the National Assembly Act to adjust standing committees, and two other contentious bills, the National Assembly Testimony and Appraisal Act and related legislation. The People Power Party has also decided to immediately launch filibusters against these bills. The process of “24-hour filibuster → forced termination of the filibuster → bill voting” is expected to be repeated over five days and four nights, from the previous day until September 29.
The People Power Party is also strongly considering filibusters for 69 other non-contentious bills, raising concerns that the National Assembly could be effectively paralyzed until the end of the year.
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