The Office is Currently Working from Home

Chairman Park Strengthens COVID-19 Preventive Measures
Introduced by Offices of Ryu Ho-jeong and Song Young-gil
Some Areas Unaddressed Due to Lawmakers' Discretion

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] As calls to escalate social distancing measures in response to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) grow louder, the National Assembly is also strengthening its alert posture by blocking external visitors and recommending remote work for lawmakers' aides.

On the 24th, National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok decided to strengthen preemptive measures against COVID-19 in the Assembly. From the 25th until the 6th of next month, external visitors will be restricted from entering all National Assembly buildings. Those attending standing committee meetings must go through prior entry approval procedures, and external persons other than the applicants are prohibited from attending press conferences. Use of seminar rooms and meeting rooms in the Members' Office Building is also prohibited.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Along with these lockdown measures, Speaker Park strongly recommended remote work and flexible work arrangements for National Assembly staff and lawmakers' aides. Approximately 300 lawmakers and about 3,000 aides work in the Members' Office Building. Concerns persist that aides are in a blind spot regarding COVID-19, as they inevitably continue to come into contact with outsiders during seminars, constituency events, and other activities. A secretary from a Democratic Party lawmaker's office said, "Many constituents came in groups to attend National Assembly seminars in the constituency and tried to visit the lawmaker's office while they were here. Now that visits are prohibited, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief," expressing the difficulties faced.

The aides welcomed Speaker Park's measures. Some lawmakers' offices had already implemented remote or flexible work before the measures were announced, but most offices had returned to 'normal attendance.' Earlier, on the 20th, before the measures were announced, Ryu Ho-jeong of the Justice Party began remote work, leaving only the minimum number of staff in the office. The office of Song Young-gil, chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee and a Democratic Party member, also implemented flexible work, and Kang Seon-woo's Democratic Party office minimized reporting systems via KakaoTalk and decided to alternate remote work every other day.

However, some lawmakers' offices have yet to even discuss such measures. Remote work for aides is entirely at the discretion of the lawmaker. With key schedules approaching, including the August settlement National Assembly with full standing committee meetings, the September regular session, and the October audit, it is difficult to change work methods. An aide from an office where all staff are attending normally said, "Since the lawmaker has not said anything yet, we have not even discussed it and are all coming to work. We are currently working overtime preparing for full standing committee meetings and the audit," they reported.

The National Assembly Secretariat stated that even if social distancing measures are raised to level 3, plenary sessions, budget and accounts special committee meetings, and standing committee meetings will be allowed. However, they urged strict compliance with quarantine rules such as wearing masks and maintaining distancing. One-person acrylic partitions will be installed at each lawmaker's seat in the plenary hall for quarantine purposes.

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