The Democratic Party Forces Passage of Lease Protection Act and Others in Plenary Session... Coalition Promise Reduced to Paper Thin

Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Democratic Party of Korea policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly on the 30th, delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The ruling Democratic Party's unilateral passage of bills continues. The United Future Party is protesting procedural issues in the bill passage process, but appears powerless as it lacks proper means to restrain it. Critics point out that the agreement between the floor leaders of both parties, which emphasized consensus in bill passage, has become meaningless.

According to political circles on the 30th, the Democratic Party plans to pass amendments to the Housing Lease Protection Act and the Commercial Building Lease Protection Act at the plenary session that day. The remaining three lease-related laws and the three follow-up bills to the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office, which passed the standing committee the previous day, are expected to be handled at the plenary session on the 4th.

Kim Tae-nyeon, the Democratic Party floor leader, expressed strong determination to pass the bills at the floor strategy meeting that day, saying, "Today (the 30th), we will pass the Housing Lease Protection Act and the Commercial Lease Protection Act at the plenary session." He added, "The Democratic Party is firmly committed to eradicating speculation and stabilizing housing prices. If necessary, we are prepared to implement stronger measures. The Democratic Party and the government are also preparing sufficient supply measures. We are preparing supply measures for newlyweds, youth, first-time buyers, and other non-homeowners, and will announce the measures soon."

Over the past two days, while real estate-related bills and follow-up bills to the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office passed standing committees led by the ruling party, the opposition party could only watch helplessly. On the 28th, the Democratic Party passed the amendment to the Housing Lease Protection Act, one of the three lease-related laws, in half a day by skipping the review by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee subcommittee, following the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, the Strategy and Finance Committee, and the Public Administration and Security Committee. Notably, the Democratic Party convened the Steering Committee, a concurrent standing committee, while other standing committees were in session and passed the follow-up bills to the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office unilaterally. The United Future Party strongly protested the 'opposition party bypass,' but could do nothing more than that.

On the 28th, National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok is seen clasping hands and posing with Kim Tae-nyeon, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the United Future Party, before their regular meeting in the Speaker's office at the National Assembly. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Critics also point out that the ruling party's 'push-through' legislative drive has rendered the agreement on the legislative schedule reached by the floor leaders of both parties on the 14th meaningless. At that time, the ruling and opposition parties agreed that each of the 11 standing committees would have one subcommittee chairperson from each negotiating group. The core point of the agreement was the principle of bipartisan consensus in subcommittee bill handling. This reaffirmed the customary 'unanimity rule' in subcommittees at the leadership level.

However, the Democratic Party passed real estate-related bills and follow-up bills to the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office without following procedures, without subcommittee review, and without even forming subcommittees. The opposition party's demand that subcommittees be formed for bill review was ignored. Analysts interpret this as the Democratic Party recognizing that it would be difficult to reach agreement on bills in subcommittees given the opposition's obvious resistance. The Democratic Party argued that due to urgency, it had no choice but to follow the majority rule principle.

This ruling party's rush is expected to accelerate further after the passage of the ruling party-initiated 'Working National Assembly Act.' This bill, introduced as the Democratic Party's top priority by Floor Leader Kim, mandates that bills be processed on a first-in, first-out basis and allows voting if at least one-quarter of the subcommittee members request it. It also includes provisions to abolish the Legislation and Judiciary Committee's structural and detailed review authority. This means that the minority opposition party's means to check the ruling party's legislative dominance will be completely eliminated.

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