Giant Yu's Solo... Pushing Through Real Estate and the Three Public Office Laws

<법사위, 임대차법 상정해 논의
Lee Hae-chan "Speed over additional discussion"
Kim Tae-nyeon "Real estate issue, United Future Party also responsible"
Operations Committee attempts to process follow-up laws for the Corruption Investigation Office
Opposition boycott may lead to unilateral processing>

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Kang Nahum and Wondara] Is it a will toward a 'working National Assembly' or arrogance intoxicated by the number of seats? The Democratic Party of Korea is driving a strong legislative push in each standing committee of the National Assembly based on its majority of 176 seats. Following the unilateral passage of real estate-related bills on the 28th, it has also announced plans to handle follow-up legislation for the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office on the 29th. Since it has emphasized 'swift legislation' even before the opening of the session, the 'giant ruling party's' rush is expected to continue for the time being.

The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee held a plenary meeting on the morning of the same day to submit and discuss the amendment to the Housing Lease Protection Act, one of the 'Three Lease Laws.' The bill was submitted under the leadership of the Democratic Party, which holds the majority of seats within the committee.

The Democratic Party plans to also submit and review real estate-related bills that passed through each standing committee the previous day. Earlier, the Democratic Party unilaterally submitted and passed follow-up bills to the July 10 real estate measures during plenary meetings of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, the Strategy and Finance Committee, and the Public Administration and Security Committee. Specifically, these include the Real Estate Transaction Reporting Act, the Reconstruction Excess Profit Recovery Act, the Local Tax Act amendment containing the acquisition tax rate increase announced in the July 10 real estate measures, the Comprehensive Real Estate Tax Act (Jongbu Tax Act), the Income Tax Act amendment including capital gains tax increases, and the Corporate Tax Act amendment.

There was no subcommittee-level discussion requiring bipartisan agreement during the passage of these bills through the standing committees. It is unusual for a bill to be submitted and approved within a day without going through a subcommittee.

Lee Hae-chan, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 29th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Representative Lee Hae-chan expressed his determination to push through the Legislation and Judiciary Committee at the Supreme Council meeting that day, stating, "Swift legislation is important." He said, "(Real estate-related bills) have already been discussed since the 20th National Assembly, so speed is more important than additional discussion," adding, "The Real Estate Transaction Reporting Act, one of the Three Lease Laws, passed the Land Committee yesterday, and today the core bills such as the rent ceiling system and the right to request contract renewal will be submitted to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee."

Floor leader Kim Tae-nyeon even raised the 'opposition party's original sin theory' regarding the surge in real estate prices. Kim criticized, "The United Future Party cannot be free from responsibility for the overheating of the real estate market," and said, "The three real estate laws led by the Saenuri Party, the predecessor of the United Future Party, in 2014 caused the surge in the apartment housing market." He continued, "The aftermath of the failure to pass follow-up legislation to the December 16 measures due to opposition from the opposition party in the 20th National Assembly is appearing as overheating in the real estate market." He added, "We must not repeat past mistakes. If legislation is not completed in the July session, realistically, it will only be possible in November."

Kim Kyung-hyup, the Democratic Party's first deputy secretary-general, emphasized that there were no procedural problems with the bills that passed the standing committees, responding to some media reports claiming that the ruling party passed the Three Real Estate Laws without examination or debate. He said, "It was the United Future Party that left without examination or debate yesterday," and stressed, "The Democratic Party, Justice Party, Open Democratic Party, and other opposition parties participated, held sufficient alternative debates, amended and supplemented the bills before passing them."

The Democratic Party plans to handle not only real estate-related bills but also the three follow-up bills related to the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office, including the partial amendment to the Personnel Hearing Act, the partial amendment to the National Assembly Act, and the rules on the operation of the candidate recommendation committee for the head of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office, in the National Assembly Steering Committee. They have stated that they will not hesitate to pass these bills unilaterally if the opposition boycotts.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, criticized the Democratic Party's legislative push at a party meeting, saying, "They are thoroughly trampling on parliamentary democracy and the rights and interests of the people." He pointed out, "They are recklessly handling matters that affect the rights and duties of the people and tax-related issues without proper debate and without blinking an eye," and added, "They say they will vote at the end, but proper debate and filtering of side effects are necessary, yet they are pushing through unilaterally without any of that."

Meanwhile, before the Legislation and Judiciary Committee scheduled for 10 a.m. that day, controversy arose when the Housing Lease Protection Act amendment was marked as 'alternative reflected and discarded' in the National Assembly's bill information system. It has since been corrected to blank. United Future Party lawmaker Kim Do-eup criticized, "Bills unrelated to the rent ceiling system and contract renewal rights they want were not processed as blank, but only the ones they want were processed like this before the vote," and said, "They processed the bills they want even before the vote."

Regarding this, an official from the Legislation and Judiciary Committee's expert office explained, "We received a written consent from the Democratic Party early this morning (29th) agreeing to the alternative to the Housing Lease Protection Act. So we accepted the written consent and drafted it into the bill information system accordingly," adding, "However, we were unaware of the system structure that if the term 'alternative' is included, the original bill is shown as 'alternative reflected and discarded' even before the vote, which was an oversight."

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