National Assembly Steering Committee Votes to Hold Plenary Session on 24th...People Power Party Walks Out

At a plenary meeting on the 23rd, the National Assembly Steering Committee voted to move up the plenary session schedule by two days and hold it on the following day, the 24th. While lawmakers from the People Power Party walked out in protest, the Democratic Party and other pro-government blocs took part in the vote.

At the plenary meeting of the Steering Committee held at the National Assembly on the 23rd, Han Byungdo, the Democratic Party floor leader and chair, moved to a vote on the matter of agreeing on the overall schedule for the 432nd National Assembly (extraordinary session), prompting Kim Eunhye, Senior Deputy Floor Leader for Policy of the People Power Party, and other steering committee members to leave. Yonhap News

The People Power Party immediately protested what it called the Democratic Party’s unilateral scrapping of the agreed plenary schedule. People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Sangbeom said, "In my memory, this is the first time a plenary meeting of the Steering Committee has been convened just to change an agreed schedule," adding, "The majority party is even changing the schedule as it pleases and dragging the National Assembly along unilaterally. This is exactly the dictatorship you (the Democratic Party) have long fought against."

Fellow party lawmaker Choi Sujin also said, "I simply cannot understand changing the agreed date of the 26th and bringing it forward to the 24th." She drew a line, saying, "You should either persuade us (the People Power Party), or at the very least show that you can reach agreement on something like the schedule," and, "We cannot agree to this part."

The opposition party also voiced strong concern over the three judicial reform bills that are slated to be handled at the plenary session. People Power Party lawmaker Park Sumin began by saying, "I will speak about the uncomfortable backstory," and continued, "Even though former President Yoon has been found guilty, judicial reform is still being pushed ahead." She went on, "The offense of distortion of law places powerful psychological pressure on judges, and when we examined the German case of allowing constitutional complaints against court rulings, only about 1% to 2% of the public actually benefit," adding, "There is talk of increasing the number of Supreme Court justices by as many as 22, but in every advanced democracy, it is crucial during which president’s term Supreme Court justices are appointed."

The Democratic Party countered that the plenary session must be moved up if judicial reform and other state agenda items and livelihood-related bills are to be passed quickly. Democratic Party lawmaker Jeon Yonggi said, "At the plenary session on the 12th, we were supposed to handle more than 80 items, but because of the People Power Party’s unlimited debate (filibuster), we only managed to handle just over 60," explaining, "We requested moving the schedule forward by two days because the passage of livelihood and reform bills is urgent, even by a single day." He refuted Yoo’s argument by adding, "I have served under four different Steering Committee chairs and have participated in many meetings of the committee, and I have experienced motions to change the agenda several times."

There were also views that the judicial reform bills are essential for reforming the judiciary. Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Namgeun said, "During the Nazi regime, German judges failed to keep their conscience and committed judicial killings, and it was in reflection of that painful past that the offense of distortion of law was introduced," explaining, "The Korean judiciary likewise needs symbolic legislative measures so that we never repeat our own dark past, and that is what the public is demanding."