Yun Hojung Elected Chairman of the Legislation Committee and 5 Other Standing Committee Chairs... Opposition Reacts, "Take All 18 Committees"

Yoon Hoo-deok Elected Chairman of the Planning and Finance Committee, Song Young-gil Elected Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee
Opposition Strongly Protests 'No Attendance at Plenary Session' Over Ruling Party's Sole Election

Yun Hojung, Chairman of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, is giving an acceptance speech at the plenary session of the National Assembly on the 15th. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] On the 15th, Yoon Ho-jung, a four-term member of the Democratic Party of Korea, was elected as the Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee for the first half of the 21st National Assembly. Yoon Hu-deok, a three-term member, was elected as the Chairperson of the Strategy and Finance Committee, and Song Young-gil, a five-term member, was elected as the Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee.

At around 6 p.m. on the same day, a voting procedure was held at the plenary session of the National Assembly to elect chairpersons for six of the 18 standing committees. The voting targets were the Democratic Party's chairpersons for the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Strategy and Finance Committee, Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee, Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, National Defense Committee, and Health and Welfare Committee. Min Hong-chul was elected as Chairperson of the National Defense Committee, Lee Hak-young as Chairperson of the Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee, and Han Jeong-ae as Chairperson of the Health and Welfare Committee.

The plenary session was held without the participation of members from the United Future Party. This is the first time in 53 years since 1967 that standing committee chairpersons were elected without the participation of the main opposition party. Since the full list of standing committee members is required to elect chairpersons, the six standing committee member lists not submitted by the United Future Party were forcibly assigned by Speaker Park Byeong-seok.

Before the agenda was presented, Speaker Park Byeong-seok stated, "It is very regrettable that some standing committees are being formed without bipartisan agreement," but added, "We postponed the plenary session twice over the past week to urge negotiations and went through a period of deep reflection ourselves, but concluded that if it is for the people and national interest, we must bear the responsibility."

Among the United Future Party members, only Floor Leader Joo Ho-young attended the plenary session and strongly opposed the vote during his procedural speech before the vote, saying, "Since the Constituent National Assembly in 1948, this is the first time in constitutional history that standing committee members from the opposing party have been forcibly assigned without consent," and declared, "We will give up all 18 standing committee chair positions."

Concerns are rising that severe confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties may continue in the future as the ruling party unilaterally elected the Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which was the biggest issue in the committee organization negotiations. Floor Leader Joo has already taken responsibility for failing to retain the chairpersonship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and expressed his intention to resign along with Policy Committee Chair Lee Jong-bae.

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