Is Lee Hae-chan's 'Drastic Measures' Article 41 of the National Assembly Act?

Lee Hae-chan, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader, are attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 13th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] "We cannot help but take extraordinary measures to operate the 21st National Assembly normally." (April 29, Democratic Party Supreme Council Meeting) "We will never tolerate this. We will take extraordinary measures." (May 12, Democratic Party Supreme Council Meeting)

These were the remarks made by Democratic Party leader Lee Hae-chan when the Future Korea Party, a satellite party of the United Future Party, showed signs of forming a negotiation group. It is interpreted as a signal that there will be no concessions in the upcoming organizational negotiations if the two parties do not merge.

According to political circles on the 13th, the "extraordinary measures" emphasized by Lee are analyzed to go beyond simply securing key standing committee positions in the organizational negotiations. There is even the possibility of occupying more standing committee chairmanships than usual or monopolizing them. According to existing customs, the United Future Party could have secured 6 to 7 out of 18 standing committees.

This possibility is based on Article 41 of the National Assembly Act. The law states that "the standing committee chairperson shall be elected from among the members of the standing committee in the plenary session in accordance with the example of the temporary chairperson election." In other words, the candidate who receives the majority vote in the plenary session becomes the standing committee chairperson. Therefore, if the Democratic Party, which would have 177 seats after merging with the Together Citizens' Party, wishes, it can occupy all standing committee chairmanships.

Kim Tae-nyeon, the Democratic Party floor leader, also appeared on a radio show the day before and, when asked by the host whether a vote could be taken if the United Future Party and the Future Korea Party used delay tactics leveraging the organizational negotiations, he said, "I do not necessarily mean to do so now, but it cannot be ruled out," implying that the existing custom of agreeing on committee composition through negotiation between negotiation groups could be broken.

Won Yu-cheol, leader of the Future Korea Party, is answering reporters' questions after the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 12th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Even if the Democratic Party monopolizes the standing committees, the United Future Party and the Future Korea Party have no proper means to prevent it. Since the two parties have just over 100 seats combined, it is also difficult to employ a National Assembly boycott strategy to block this.

Nevertheless, the Future Korea Party still hesitates to give up its dream of forming a negotiation group. Future Korea Party leader Won Yoo-chul recently proposed a "2+2 meeting" involving the leadership of the Democratic Party, Together Citizens' Party, United Future Party, and Future Korea Party to discuss the abolition of the semi-proportional representation system. This indicates that the party intends to remain a negotiation subject for the time being and can also be interpreted as a sign of pursuing an independent path.

However, pushing through by seat count also has burdens for the ruling party, especially in terms of building a bipartisan cooperation front. Earlier, floor leader Kim said right after his election, "If an opposition floor leader is elected, I plan to propose creating an institutional framework that allows cooperation first."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.