Special Committee on Investment in the United States Goes Into Closed Session From First Meeting...Opposition Says "There Must Be a Guarantee Against Unilateral Passage"

Special committee on investment in the United States goes into closed session from its first meeting
Park Sooyoung: "Outraged and appalled by the unilateral handling at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee"

The Special Committee for Handling the Special Act on Investment in the United States (hereinafter referred to as the special committee) held its first meeting on the 12th, but calls for an adjournment emerged from the outset, signaling a rocky start.

At a plenary session held that morning, the special committee elected People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sanghun as its chair, and Democratic Party lawmaker Jung Taeho and People Power Party lawmaker Park Sooyoung as its secretaries. In the early part of the meeting, members of the special committee stressed the gravity of the matter and the need to safeguard the national interest, expressing their determination to "do their best," but the meeting was soon converted to a closed session.

At the first plenary meeting of the special committee to handle the Special Act on U.S. investment, held at the National Assembly on the 12th, Kim Sanghun, the committee chair and a member of the People Power Party, announced that the committee would switch to a closed session and asked the press to leave. Yonhap News Agency

The special committee had planned to proceed with a work report after appointing the chair and secretaries and hearing introductory remarks from the members. However, lawmaker Park Sooyoung said, "At the Legislation and Judiciary Committee yesterday, bills that do not help the national interest were forcibly passed. We cannot help but feel anger and lament over the unilateral handling of the Constitutional Court Act, which increases the number of Supreme Court justices and introduces a constitutional complaint system," adding, "No matter how much we discuss this in the special committee, there is no guarantee that (in the end) it will not be unilaterally passed." He then argued, "Let us adjourn today's meeting and, after the ruling and opposition parties reach some kind of agreement on ways to prevent such one-sided proceedings, reconvene the meeting."

In response, lawmaker Jung Taeho said, "I had consulted with lawmaker Park even before the committee convened, but he suddenly brought this up. It is regrettable that this deviates from established practice," and added, "This special committee was launched based on an agreement between the floor leaders, so it is not appropriate for it to be influenced by the operation of other committees." He continued, "I believe the special committee should carry out its work as a special committee, while political issues are properly handled by the floor leadership," and said, "From the very start, bringing other political issues into the operation of the special committee is something the public will find hard to accept."

The People Power Party is seen as attempting to link the issues of the constitutional complaint system and the increase in the number of Supreme Court justices, which were pushed through by the ruling party as part of judicial reform at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee the previous day, with the Special Act on Investment in the United States and other matters.

When the request for adjournment was raised, Chair Kim Sanghun announced that the meeting would continue in a closed session. Some ruling party lawmakers voiced objections to the conversion to a closed session.