Controversy Over Merging the 'Working National Assembly Act' and the Committee on Leisure and Culture... Opposition Urges "Stop Self-Contradiction"

Women's Groups "Oppose Gender Issue Downplay"
Some Voices Called It a Practical Compromise

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea is facing controversy over a proposal included in its first party resolution, the 'Working National Assembly Act,' which involves merging the National Assembly's Women and Family Committee with the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee. The opposition parties criticized the move as "self-contradictory abolition," while women's organizations expressed concerns that "gender issues will not be properly addressed." However, some voices argue that this issue represents a realistic compromise.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to political circles on the 21st, the Democratic Party's Working National Assembly Act includes a proposal to merge the Women and Family Committee into the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee. The partial amendment bill to the National Assembly Act, led by Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Tae-nyeon and supported by 176 lawmakers, contains a clause stating, "The Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee shall be renamed the Culture, Sports, Tourism and Women and Family Committee, the committee's jurisdiction shall include matters under the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and the Women and Family Committee shall be abolished." Since the Women and Family Committee has so far been a concurrent standing committee that did not regularly hold sessions, the intention is to merge it with the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee to create a permanent standing committee.

Kim Jung-jae, the opposition party's secretary of the Women and Family Committee and a member of the Future United Party, criticized on the 20th at the Emergency Committee meeting, saying, "At a time when public outrage over power-related sexual crimes, such as the recent sexual harassment case involving former Mayor Park, is sky-high, it is laughable to see the Democratic Party argue for the abolition of the Women and Family Committee under the pretext of a working National Assembly. The Democratic Party must immediately stop its attempt to abolish the Women and Family Committee."

Women's organizations also voiced opposition. The Gender Politics Research Institute and the Women's Political Power Democratic Solidarity (YeSeYeon) issued a statement on the same day, pointing out, "At a time when the Women and Family Committee should be elevated to a standalone standing committee, merging it into the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee raises concerns about how many lawmakers will pay attention to women's and gender issues."

However, there are also voices calling it a "realistic compromise." A representative from the Women and Family Committee explained in a phone interview with Asia Economy on the 21st, "While we understand the context of the criticism, the problem lies in the low importance of the Women and Family Committee among standing committees and the patchwork nature of past discussions."

The merger and abolition of the Women and Family Committee has been a consistent issue since the 18th National Assembly. Because it is a concurrent standing committee, when its schedule overlaps with major standing committees, irregularly scheduled meetings are often canceled or postponed. A Women and Family Committee official pointed out, "While other committees conduct two-week-long audits, the Women and Family Committee's audits often ended in just one day." The realistic way to make it permanent is through integration. For example, the Environment and Labor Committee is a merged standing committee despite the unrelated nature of environmental and labor issues.

Of course, concerns have been raised that discussions on women's issues might be diminished and that the merger is a mechanical consolidation. On the 20th, Basic Income Party lawmaker Yong Hye-in criticized on Facebook, "The Women and Family Committee's work is treated as a burden, but will women's-related bills be properly handled if merged with the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee?"

There have also been proposals inside and outside the political circles to elevate the Women and Family Committee to a standalone standing committee, but this raises issues of fairness with other standalone committees. Since the committee's jurisdiction covers only the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and its government budget is small, additional discussions are needed to merge it with related ministries such as labor and welfare to expand it into a standalone committee.

Ultimately, the controversy is analyzed as stemming from the political circles' low interest in the Women and Family Committee and patchwork discussions. The proposal included in the Working National Assembly Act was also pushed forward without sufficient explanation or consultation with the Women and Family Committee members, which is seen as problematic across party lines. If the bill passes, it must be implemented within three months, but if the merger with the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee occurs without reassignments, Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee members will immediately take over all Women and Family Committee issues.

In response, Democratic Party lawmaker Kwon In-sook is reportedly proposing to amend the supplementary provisions to postpone the implementation to the latter half of the National Assembly session. The Women and Family Committee plans to hold a meeting for opinion gathering and continue discussions.

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