Ruling Party Unveils Draft for Working National Assembly... Law Committee Streamlined, Permanent Sessions Begin

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea unveiled a draft amendment to the National Assembly Act on the 11th aimed at creating a working National Assembly. The draft includes provisions to reduce the functions of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and impose penalties on members who fail to attend standing committee meetings, thereby establishing a 'working permanent National Assembly.'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Democratic Party's Working National Assembly Promotion Team revealed this draft at a forum co-hosted with the National Assembly Research Service on the same day.

According to the draft, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee's authority over systematic and textual review will be abolished, and the committee will be reorganized as the Judiciary Committee, dropping the 'Legislation' function. The existing systematic and textual review authority will be handled by a review body composed of experts under the Speaker of the National Assembly. It was agreed that the Judiciary Committee, which loses the 'Legislation' function, will merge with the Ethics Special Committee, which was a non-permanent special committee, to form the Ethics and Judiciary Committee.

At the forum, Representative Cho Eung-cheon, who presented the topic, explained the necessity by stating, "Bills have repeatedly been stalled and faded away in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee due to partisan interests rather than systematic and textual review."

The Democratic Party also plans to increase attendance rates at standing committee meetings by publicly announcing attendance on the National Assembly website and requiring standing committee chairs to report their members' attendance to the Speaker once a month. The Speaker may issue warnings or cautions to committees with poor attendance and can request the replacement of the chairperson or secretary from the floor leader of the relevant negotiation group.

A proposal was also made to change the National Assembly's operation by setting recess periods. Instead of postponing meetings each time due to failure to agree on the agenda, the Assembly would remain open year-round with only summer and winter recesses fixed. Additionally, meeting dates would be specified, such as "Plenary sessions twice a month, on the second and fourth Thursdays at 2 p.m."

Regarding the often delayed formation of committees, if a standing committee chair is not appointed within the deadline, the Speaker may recommend a chairperson and have the appointment approved by the plenary session. The number of positions such as standing committee chairs in negotiation groups would be elected based on the proportion of seats held by each group.

Other improvements included in the draft are ▲ conducting national audits before the regular session ▲ introducing majority rule instead of unanimous consent in standing committee decisions ▲ full disclosure of minutes from the Budget and Accounts Committee meetings, among other review process enhancements.

The Promotion Team plans to finalize the amendment by reflecting the discussion contents into the draft and submit the Working National Assembly Act as the party's first official bill.

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