The National Assembly Preparing for the 'Untact Era'... Will Remote Voting in Plenary Sessions Become Possible?

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] As the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) resurges mainly in the Seoul metropolitan area, the National Assembly has also begun preparing for 'untact (Un+Contact, non-face-to-face) work.'

On the 20th, National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok met with Kim Tae-nyeon of the Democratic Party and Joo Ho-young of the United Future Party to discuss National Assembly quarantine measures and non-face-to-face meeting methods.

In fact, fear of COVID-19 is spreading within the National Assembly. Unlike the first wave, the second wave is spreading mainly in Seoul. Events such as seminars in the members' office buildings are being canceled one after another, and some lawmakers have had direct or indirect contacts, causing disruptions in work. The Democratic Party postponed its members' general meeting, and the United Future Party postponed its training session.

Speaker Park stated that he would speed up the establishment of a non-face-to-face video conferencing system in the National Assembly. This is intended to prepare for situations where standing committee meetings become impossible due to confirmed COVID-19 cases or self-quarantine. In July, 450 million won was secured through the third supplementary budget for 'establishing a non-face-to-face meeting system in standing committee meeting rooms,' and procedures such as bidding announcements are underway.

It is scheduled to be completed by October, but the National Assembly Secretariat plans to advance this to coincide with the September regular session. Once the video conferencing system is set up in the standing committees, it is highly likely that bill reviews, current issue reports, audits, and budget reviews will be conducted by connecting the National Assembly and the audited institutions via video.

Furthermore, the National Assembly plans to prepare for lawmakers who find it difficult to attend meetings in person to participate remotely in standing committee meetings. This will involve amending the National Assembly Act, as the current law only permits meetings held by gathering in the main building's meeting rooms. The National Assembly intends to accelerate the preparation of the legal basis following discussions between Speaker Park and the ruling and opposition floor leaders.

Prior to this, Democratic Party lawmaker Jo Seung-rae was the first to propose a bill allowing remote participation in voting even without attending the meeting room. The amendment's main point is to allow lawmakers to participate remotely and vote non-face-to-face with the speaker's permission in urgent situations where attending the National Assembly is difficult.

However, there may be differing opinions among stakeholders on whether to allow remote voting even in the plenary session, the final stage of bill processing. Some argue that only non-face-to-face attendance for the opening, agenda setting, and simple discussions of the plenary session should be recognized, and remote voting should be approached cautiously. Conversely, others insist that it should be actively introduced to prepare for cases where access to the plenary hall is difficult due to closures caused by infections in the main building.

At the meeting of ruling and opposition floor leaders chaired by Speaker Park on the day, Han Minsu, the National Assembly's chief public relations officer, revealed that since there will be a gap of about two months in establishing the video conferencing system, there was talk about actively utilizing existing video conference rooms. Han explained, "There are about three such places in the National Assembly, and by installing software, members can hold meetings like members' general meetings from their own rooms. The Secretariat plans to quickly train one staff member from each lawmaker's office."

Additionally, one-person partitions will be installed in the plenary hall. Han added, "The floor leaders requested installation in the standing committees as well, so it will be reviewed. Specific quarantine measures such as installing microphone covers and disinfection were also reported on that day."

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