Choi Hyung-doo "Accepting 11:7 Standing Committee Chair Distribution, Only a Wish of the Democratic Party"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Amid speculation within the Democratic Party of Korea that the United Future Party will accept an 11 to 7 distribution of standing committee chairmanships, United Future Party floor spokesperson Choi Hyung-doo dismissed this as a "one-sided wishful thinking."

On the 25th, Choi appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and said, "The Democratic Party itself is afraid to leave a record that it broke the tradition by forcibly taking the Legislation and Judiciary Committee (LJC) chairmanship."

He added, "As Floor Leader Joo Ho-young mentioned in an interview, whenever the Democratic Party met to negotiate, it was always as if a gun was pointed at them, asking whether to negotiate or not, whether to accept or just comply. It was not negotiation but intimidation," emphasizing, "So they keep imposing wishful thinking on us, but the most important thing is that they forcibly took the chairmanship and then begged us to take the rest."

Choi said, "(The opposition party chairmanship of the LJC) has been a tradition and principle for the past 30 years. Even when the ruling party was a minority with 81 seats in the past, they always took the LJC chairmanship," adding, "The LJC chairmanship is the minimum safeguard for the opposition to check the ruling party's reckless actions, and after breaking that, the other standing committee chairmanships are meaningless, which is a common opinion among the three-term lawmakers who would take those chairmanships.

The opposition's stance is that if the LJC chairmanship issue is not resolved, they will not accept any standing committee chairmanships. Choi said, "Many lawmakers visited their constituencies last weekend, and supporters expressed that if the LJC chairmanship was forcibly taken, they should not be concerned about other standing committee chairmanships, and that the ruling party should bear full responsibility for their reckless actions."

Regarding the distribution of committee assignments among lawmakers, he explained, "As the main opposition party and a parliamentary negotiating group, we need professional capabilities to lead, monitor, and check the government in each standing committee, so adjustments are ongoing," adding, "Last time, the Speaker of the National Assembly accepted only the Democratic Party's opinion and forcibly assigned committees, which is the current point of contention, and many have submitted their resignations."

Regarding Floor Leader Joo's declaration that the standing committees must operate to proceed with the investigations into Yoon Mi-hyang and North Korea-related matters, Choi said, "Even if the standing committees operate, the issue is whether the ruling party will accept the investigations," adding, "(The investigations) are an inevitable measure for the National Assembly to address public doubts and correct wrongdoings by the government according to the will of the people, and if the ruling party agrees to the investigations, we will naturally raise these issues through the relevant standing committees."

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