Chaotic United Party Calls Emergency Emergency Committee Meeting... "Forced Allocation of Parliamentary Violence Must Be Canceled"

Concerns Over Leadership Vacuum Following Joo Ho-young's Resignation
United Party Lawmakers Protest at Speaker's Office
Hardline Faction Leads Amid Some Pragmatism

On the 16th, Kim Seong-won, the senior deputy floor leader of the United Future Party, and lawmakers forcibly assigned to standing committees visited Speaker Park Byeong-seok's office to protest. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Lim Chun-han and Lee Ji-eun] As Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the Future United Party, tendered his resignation in protest against Speaker Park Byeong-seok's forced assignment of standing committees, the United Party is expected to face a leadership vacuum for the time being. On the 16th, United Party lawmakers visited the Speaker's office to protest the forced assignments but failed to find a clear breakthrough. The United Party Emergency Response Committee (ERC) decided to hold an emergency meeting that day to find a response plan.

On the same day, the United Party held an emergency ERC meeting in the National Assembly main building in the morning to discuss countermeasures following Floor Leader Joo's resignation. Convened by ERC Chairman Kim Jong-in, the meeting strongly criticized the ruling Democratic Party's unilateral formation of the committees while discussing future responses to the leadership vacuum.

Earlier, United Party lawmakers also visited the Speaker's office to protest the forced assignments. Kim Seong-won, United Party Deputy Floor Leader, told reporters after the visit, "We strongly protested to the Speaker and the Democratic Party for carrying out an unprecedented parliamentary outrage in constitutional history and demanded the immediate cancellation and withdrawal of the forcibly assigned standing committee members," emphasizing, "We cannot carry out parliamentary activities in the forcibly assigned committees." The United Party Staff Association also issued a statement that day, saying, "Even taking away the Judiciary Committee Chairperson, the minimum check-and-balance device, means no tolerance for any criticism or oversight," and protested, "We hope the Speaker reads the hearts of the people, not the President."

The United Party's full-scale protest that day was because the National Assembly forcibly elected six standing committee chairpersons at the plenary session without the participation of the United Party and the People's Party. It was the first time in 53 years that standing committees were assigned without the main opposition party's participation. This was due to the failure of the ruling and opposition parties to narrow their differences over the Judiciary Committee Chairperson position. The list of members for the six standing committees was forcibly assigned by Speaker Park. Floor Leader Joo took responsibility for this and expressed his intention to resign immediately after the plenary session.

With Floor Leader Joo's resignation, the scheduled floor strategy meeting was not held that day, and the ERC is expected to discuss future countermeasures. However, the problem is that the Democratic Party, with its numerical advantage of 177 seats, is pushing forward without any concession, leaving no sharp countermeasures. Within the party, voices from pragmatists suggest "giving up the Judiciary Committee Chairperson but securing practical gains." Lawmaker Jang Je-won argued on Facebook, "The majority of the public will not share our anger over which party holds the Judiciary Committee," and urged, "Even if we lose the Judiciary Committee, let's take the lead in areas such as Land, Political Affairs, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Industry, Small and Medium Ventures, Labor, Budget, and Education."

However, the majority of lawmakers support the 'hardline stance.' Seong Il-jong, a member of the United Party ERC, appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and said, "There were a few opinions advocating pragmatism, about one or two people, and of course, such proposals should be considered," but emphasized, "However, the majority of lawmakers, judging strategically, almost unanimously agreed that the Judiciary Committee is essential to uphold democratic principles."

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