Jo Hae-jin: "The atmosphere is that we won't be mere stand-ins on standing committees... The Democratic Party must take all 18 seats"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Jo Hae-jin, a member of the Future United Party, raised the possibility that the Democratic Party of Korea might take all 18 standing committees, expressing concerns that "the chairpersons of the standing committees will merely be figureheads who fail to properly check the government and ruling party, simply allowing one-sided bills, budgets, and various agendas to pass."

In an interview with TBS Radio's 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' on the 24th, Rep. Jo said, "If the Democratic Party does not change its approach to running the National Assembly, whether the United Party sits in the vice-chair or the chair of the standing committees, it will face humiliation and be in a thorny position."

He added that even among the three-term lawmakers within his party, including himself, there is a prevailing sentiment of 'not wanting to take the role.' Typically, chairpersons of standing committees are assigned to senior lawmakers with three or more terms.

While some senior members argue that they should at least secure the seven standing committee chair positions allocated proportionally by the number of seats, Rep. Jo dismissed this as "the opinion of just one or two people." He explained, "The intention behind that claim was that even if it’s not the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, having other standing committee chair positions would help us check the ruling party and government, but immediately others came out saying 'it won’t help much.'"

He described the situation as "being surrounded by Democratic Party lawmakers, and when reviewing agendas, if Democratic Party members say 'let’s vote,' we cannot stop it." He continued, "If a vote is held, the agenda will pass, and if we drag it out, the right to preside will be taken away again. Our chairperson will have to step down, and a Democratic Party secretary will sit in the chair and preside. That would not only be humiliating but also prevent us from stopping anything."

There is also the possibility that if the United Party continues to refuse to accept the positions, the Democratic Party could take all 18 standing committees. Regarding this, Rep. Jo said, "To review the supplementary budget in the Budget and Accounts Committee, it is not enough to appoint only the Budget Committee chairperson; all standing committees must review and forward their assessments to the Budget Committee, so almost all standing committee chairpersons will likely need to be elected." He added, "From the Democratic Party’s perspective, and also from Speaker Park Byeong-seok’s standpoint, they will first elect all standing committee chairs, process the budget within June, and then the seven chairpersons from the ruling party might resign."

He continued, "Even if that happens, the key issue is whether our party accepts it or not, and if we refuse, the situation will inevitably lead to the Democratic Party taking all 18 standing committees."

Responding to criticism that the United Party is engaging in a futile battle, he said, "If the National Assembly’s operation framework allows the ruling party to dominate, over time, various bills, budgets, and agendas that the 41% of the public who supported us cannot agree with will be recklessly passed under the Democratic Party’s leadership." He added, "At that point, our supporters and moderate voters will ask, 'What is the United Party doing as the opposition? Can’t they even stop this?' To prevent such a situation, we must properly establish the organizational framework and create a system where the opposition can perform at least a minimal checking function."

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