Negotiations for Committee Formation Fail... Democratic Party Attempts to Elect Standing Committee Chairpersons Today

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, engaged in last-minute negotiations over the organization of the 21st National Assembly but ultimately failed to reach an agreement.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The two floor leaders held a closed-door meeting on the 15th, presided over by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok, but were unable to narrow their differences over the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. The Democratic Party announced its intention to hold a plenary session at 6 p.m. that day to unilaterally elect the standing committee chairs.

After the meeting, Floor Leader Kim told reporters, “I conveyed to Speaker Park that all standing committee chairs must be elected, and the scope of the election will be determined by the Speaker.”

In response, Floor Leader Joo held a press conference, criticizing, “The Democratic Party is trying to throw wide open the door to parliamentary dictatorship and one-party dictatorship.” After the press conference, he told reporters regarding whether they would boycott the plenary session, “The decision will be made at the party meeting, but we will never cooperate with the plenary session.”

Prior to the floor leaders’ meeting that day, first-term lawmakers from both the ruling coalition and the United Future Party visited the Speaker’s office. About ten first-term lawmakers from the Democratic Party and other ruling coalition parties urged that the standing committee organization must be completed that day to create a working National Assembly, while about ten first-term lawmakers from the United Future Party expressed their opposition to the ruling party’s unilateral organization of the Assembly.

Han Min-su, chief public relations officer of the National Assembly, told reporters after the meeting, “Speaker Park said there is no proposal that can satisfy both sides; only a choice remains.”

Han added, “On the 12th, the Speaker promised the public that the organization would be completed today,” and continued, “It would be best if the ruling and opposition parties agree on the scope of the standing committee chair elections, but if not, since it is a matter promised to the public, Speaker Park intends to handle it. The scope requires careful consideration.”

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