<기사> Speaker-National Assembly Floor Leader Meeting Abruptly Canceled... United Party "Unilaterally Notified Agenda"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hye-min] The meeting between the Speaker of the National Assembly and the floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties, scheduled for the first day of the 21st National Assembly's first regular session on the 1st, was abruptly canceled.

Originally, Speaker Park Byeong-seok and the floor leaders Kim Tae-nyeon of the Democratic Party and Joo Ho-young of the United Future Party were scheduled to hold a regular meeting immediately after the opening ceremony of the regular session held at the National Assembly that afternoon. However, the Democratic Party informed reporters that "the floor leaders' meeting was canceled because the United Future Party floor leader's side notified that they could not attend the meeting."

Speaker Park and the floor leaders were initially supposed to discuss the legislative agenda for the regular session and the formation of five special committees, including the Ethics Committee, which had been previously agreed upon.

The sudden cancellation of the meeting was due to the United Future Party expressing dissatisfaction when Speaker Park raised the introduction of remote meetings and remote voting at the National Assembly as an agenda item. A United Future Party official said, "The agenda was suddenly notified without prior discussion in the Speaker's office. Even the ruling party floor leader was unaware of this," adding, "We have made several concessions before, but unilaterally notifying the opposition floor leader is not customary."

Floor leader Joo met with reporters immediately after the opening ceremony adjourned and said, "From our perspective, Speaker Park's conduct is not neutral. This time, around 11 a.m., he proposed a plan for a non-face-to-face meeting," adding, "Even if it is held, the negotiation groups should take the lead in deciding how the meeting will be conducted, but the Speaker is acting as if he is going to make the law."

He continued, "When this issue was raised before, I said that the Constitution states 'meetings must be attended in person,' so constitutional issues must be resolved first, but there was no mention of this, and a draft bill was attached," adding, "So I got angry thinking, 'What kind of situation is this?'"

Floor leader Joo added, "I also received a call from floor leader Kim. He said that they are only building a video system for holding party meetings and are not considering remote meetings for standing committees due to previous concerns."

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