Choi Hyung-doo: "Forced Standing Committee Assignment, Even Dictatorial Regimes Didn't Do This... Will Not Engage in Street Protests"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Choi Hyung-doo, floor spokesperson of the United Future Party, criticized the forced assignment of standing committees, saying, "The Democratic Party of Korea has crossed a line that should not have been crossed."

On the 16th, Choi appeared on KBS Radio's "Kim Kyung-rae's Strongest Current Affairs" and pointed out, "Forced assignment of standing committees is something that has never happened in the history of Korea's constitutional government. Even during authoritarian or dictatorial regimes, this was not done."

He said, "Members of the National Assembly are elected by the people in each region, and proportional representatives are also chosen by the people based on their party. Negotiation groups place members in each standing committee and consult to fulfill promises made to the people. However, the Speaker of the National Assembly unilaterally forced the assignments, bowing to the ruling party's pressure."

Choi criticized, "They say they will take all six, now all 18 standing committees. If this happens, this is not a democratic national assembly. It will be a topic overseas and recorded in history as a parliamentary dictatorship trampling on the tradition of cooperation in the National Assembly."

In response to the host's question about whether the ruling party made this decision due to urgent issues such as the third supplementary budget and foreign security, he emphasized, "The United Future Party is taking the national crisis, security crisis, and economic crisis more seriously and preparing more policies than the Democratic Party. All these issues started with just one committee, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee."

He explained, "Even when the Democratic Party was the overwhelming majority and the United Future Party's predecessor, the Grand National Party or Saenuri Party, had about 81 seats, they always demanded the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. The Speaker and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee should not be monopolized by one party but shared side by side because the Democratic Party at the time considered the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee as the last safeguard to restrain the ruling party's reckless rush."

Choi said, "Looking at the bills to be processed after this, such as revisiting past issues or swiftly passing the leaflet ban law ordered by Kim Yo-jong, about half of the public is skeptical. Someone needs to put the brakes on these and make them reconsider, and the review process through the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee serves as that mechanism."

He added, "The ruling party is trying to pass the leaflet ban law ordered by Kim Yo-jong and the resolution on the end of the war as the first batch, but United Future Party lawmakers, who are well-versed in foreign affairs and security, have already expressed their positions. They will announce them in the National Assembly, and although they cannot enter the standing committee chairpersons' meeting room, they will continue to refute, propose new alternatives, appeal to the public, and debate among lawmakers within the National Assembly."

Regarding Floor Leader Joo Ho-young's resignation, he said, "We are trying to support Floor Leader Joo more strongly to gather the consensus of all lawmakers to resolve this issue and overcome this crisis. We strongly urged him to reconsider and passed a vote of confidence, but Floor Leader Joo said, 'I will take responsibility for not being able to stop this and will not withdraw my resignation,' and has not accepted our continued requests to reconsider."

However, the United Future Party has stated that it will not resort to street protests or physical means. Choi said, "The United Future Party believes that the most important battlefield to resist the ruling party's reckless rush for the people is the National Assembly. Although we cannot participate in the plenary session or the standing committee chairpersons' meeting room, we will express our opinions within the National Assembly and appeal our position to Democratic Party lawmakers and fellow lawmakers."

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