Negotiations on Committee Formation Finally Collapse... Ruling Party's Exclusive Control of Standing Committees Becomes Reality (Summary)

Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is leaving the Speaker's office after a meeting with the Speaker and floor leaders of negotiating groups for the organization of the 21st National Assembly on the 29th at the National Assembly. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy reporters Kang Nahum, Im Chunhan, Jeon Jinyoung] The ruling and opposition parties' negotiations over the National Assembly organization finally collapsed on the 29th. As a result, the Democratic Party of Korea's 'monopoly of standing committee chairmanships' is expected to become a reality.

Kim Tae-nyeon, the Democratic Party floor leader, announced the failure of the organization agreement at a press conference held immediately after the meeting of floor leaders of both parties on the morning of the same day, saying, "The Democratic Party has made the maximum concessions possible so far. However, the United Future Party has communicated its refusal."

Joo Ho-young, the United Future Party floor leader, also held a press conference, stating, "We proposed alternating the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee even for the latter two years, but the Democratic Party did not accept even that."

Earlier, both parties attempted final negotiations for the organization starting from the previous day. Especially, since there was reportedly significant progress in opinions during the marathon negotiations the day before, political circles speculated that an agreement might be reached at least by the morning of the day. In fact, it is known that the two parties even drafted a preliminary agreement.

The draft agreement reportedly included ▲ the ratio of standing committee chairpersons between ruling and opposition parties as 11 to 7 ▲ the ruling party having the priority right to select the chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee in the latter half of the 21st National Assembly ▲ a state audit on the agreement and follow-up measures regarding the issue of comfort women victims of the Japanese military during the colonial period ▲ and a hearing related to the investigation and trial of the former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook case.

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, is leaving the Speaker's office after a meeting with the Speaker and floor leaders of negotiation groups for the organization of the 21st National Assembly on the 29th at the National Assembly. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

However, the two parties ultimately failed to resolve the conflict over the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. Floor leader Joo said, "During the negotiation process, the Democratic Party broke long-standing customs and traditions by unilaterally taking the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. Under these circumstances, we concluded that holding seven standing committee chairmanships proposed by the Democratic Party does not have much meaning in terms of checks and balances."

He continued, "In our party's view, not being able to have the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and even if we concede a hundred steps, not being able to share it, means that the Democratic Party is rejecting coexistence and cooperation and is trying to operate the National Assembly unilaterally. Taking the standing committee chairmanships would only cause accusations of being a mere figurehead or obstruction."

With the collapse of the ruling and opposition parties' organization negotiations, the Democratic Party plans to proceed with the sole election of standing committee chairpersons on the same day. Except for the Intelligence Committee chairmanship, which is designated as the opposition party's share under the National Assembly Act, the possibility of the Democratic Party monopolizing all standing committee chairmanships has increased. Floor leader Kim emphasized, "To operate the National Assembly normally, especially to process the third supplementary budget, it is an inevitable choice to elect all 18 standing committee chairpersons and operate the standing committees normally."

Speaker Park Byeong-seug is scheduled to hold a plenary session at 2 p.m. on the same day. Given the urgent tasks such as reviewing and processing the third supplementary budget, Speaker Park's position is that the plenary session cannot be postponed any longer. After the Democratic Party's sole election of standing committee chairpersons, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun's policy speech for the third supplementary budget is expected to follow.

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