[Inside Chodong]Government Organization Act: Speed Over Substance

All Deliberation Period Rules Ignored in Standing Committee
Details Overlooked in the Rush to Use Majority Seats

"Isn't it the role of the National Assembly to melt differences of opinion like a crucible? Why are we refusing to do that? Isn't that the very mistake made by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration? As you have criticized, it was run by force and called a dictatorship, and I don't think that's wrong. But then, why are we trying to repeat the same mistake?"

On September 22, during the plenary session of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, which was reviewing the Government Organization Act, a candid admonition was directed at the Democratic Party. Assemblyman Lee Sungkwon of the People Power Party went so far as to call former President Yoon Suk-yeol a "dictator" in an attempt to slow the ruling party's rapid push, but to no avail.

On September 24, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee conducted a review of the bill's wording and structure, followed by its presentation at the plenary session on September 25. After the filibuster (unlimited debate) ended on September 26, the Government Organization Act was immediately passed in the plenary session. Considering the bill was proposed on September 15, it took only 11 days. For comparison, it took 51 days during the Park Geun-hye administration, 42 days during the Moon Jae-in administration, and 151 days during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration to process similar bills-making this an exceptionally rapid process.

The Democratic Party argued that the Government Organization Act should be entrusted to the government and the ruling party so that the new administration can "get to work." They claimed that, since the administration was launched without a transition committee to prepare such acts in advance, it was necessary to quickly establish a government structure aligned with its governing philosophy. They also asserted that the National Policy Planning Committee had conducted sufficient review. However, three years ago, when it was the opposition, the Democratic Party had blocked the new government's Government Organization Act by pointing out issues such as the abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. As a result, the Government Organization Act was processed nine months after the government was launched, with the abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family omitted.

With speed being emphasized, concerns over a hasty review grew. The Public Administration and Security Committee, which oversees the Government Organization Act, referred the bill just one day after it was proposed, brought it to a plenary committee meeting on September 17, and convened a subcommittee on September 18. The bill subcommittee completed its review in just two hours and twenty minutes. Based on the subcommittee's review, an alternative proposal was prepared, but errors such as incorrectly naming the Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment as the Minister of Climate and Energy in the supplementary provisions, and mislabeling the ministries responsible for each bill, had to be corrected over the weekend by the committee staff.

National Assembly staff gave up their weekends to make up for the rushed review. Even so, further errors were found, requiring additional corrections by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. The problems with the details were not unrelated to the fact that, in this case, 627 laws were being amended simultaneously through supplementary provisions, and the time spent on review was absolutely insufficient. In addition, the process of hearing opinions from other standing committees affected by the amendment was omitted.

To prevent mistakes in legislation, the National Assembly has established deliberation periods. After a bill is proposed, there is a 15- to 20-day waiting period before it is referred to a standing committee, and a five-day period for review by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. This is to ensure that both lawmakers and the committees supporting them have time to examine the bill. However, these deliberation periods were ignored during the review of the Government Organization Act.

Why was the ruling party in such a hurry? It does not appear to have been President Lee Jaemyung's intention. President Lee had stated, "Honestly, it's about working a bit more efficiently, but not amending the Government Organization Act doesn't mean we can't do our jobs." Rather, it seems that the Democratic Party leadership was more strongly motivated by the desire to finalize the abolition of the Prosecutors' Office before Chuseok. However, it is questionable whether pushing the bill through with a majority of seats, without attention to detail or consideration of opposing views, will contribute to the success of this administration.