People Power Party's Filibuster Ignites Tensions... Yoon Hee-sook as the 7th Debater

Speaker Park Byeong-seok and Vice Speaker Kim Sang-hee's 'Two-Shift Marathon'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] The ruling and opposition parties continued their filibuster (legal obstruction of parliamentary proceedings through unlimited debate) on the National Intelligence Service Act amendment for the second day on the 11th. The Democratic Party announced its policy to guarantee the opposition's unlimited debate rights, and the first-term lawmakers of the People Power Party resolved to participate fully with renewed determination.

Starting with Lee Cheol-gyu, the first filibuster speaker from the People Power Party, as of 4 p.m. on the same day, Yoon Hee-sook of the People Power Party took the podium as the seventh debater. Previously, Kim Byung-gi, Hong Ik-pyo, and Oh Ki-hyung from the Democratic Party, and Cho Tae-yong and Kim Woong from the People Power Party had participated in the debate.

So far, Lee Cheol-gyu spoke the longest at 8 hours and 44 minutes, while Oh Ki-hyung spoke the shortest at 1 hour and 17 minutes. The opposition party had relatively longer debate times than the ruling party.

As the filibuster prolonged, there were occasional digressions. When Lee Cheol-gyu said, "The old-age pension was a policy promised and introduced by former President Park Geun-hye during her presidential campaign," Democratic Party lawmaker Jin Sung-jun protested, saying it was unrelated to the bill, and then People Power Party lawmaker Jang Je-won interrupted, saying, "Listen, Jin Sung-jun," causing a commotion.

Hong Ik-pyo pointed out, "Since the opposition talks about dictatorship, it neither hurts us much nor resonates with the public," sparking an immediate argument with opposition lawmakers, for which he was reprimanded by Speaker Park Byeong-seok and apologized, saying, "I'm sorry."

The plenary session hall was relatively quiet. Except for occasional cheers of "Fighting" or supportive applause from fellow lawmakers in the seats, the hall remained silent throughout the day, creating an atmosphere of stillness.

The Democratic Party formed groups of about 25 members from the previous day and deployed them to the plenary hall, ensuring they stayed for 8 hours at a time. The People Power Party also assigned duty shifts in the plenary hall. They arranged a rotation by standing committees to keep at least 20 members seated, and even designated dedicated deputy floor leaders to check attendance.

Meanwhile, Speaker Park Byeong-seok and Deputy Speaker Kim Sang-hee have been presiding over the endless plenary sessions in shifts of about 3 to 4 hours each. It is a relentless schedule without even time to rest at home. Since the opposition's deputy speaker position is vacant, the two have to alternate presiding duties, raising concerns within the National Assembly about the physical limits of the leadership.

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