Atukbeop passes Munchewi agenda coordination committee... Opposition protests "Forcing through with Lee Sang-jik"

People Power Party Holds Press Conference: "Forced Vote Without Debate"
"Civil Servant Conversion Without Exam... Fairness Issues Like In Guk Gong May Arise"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hye-min] The "Special Act on the Creation of the Asia Culture Center City (Asia Special Act)" passed the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee's agenda adjustment subcommittee on the 17th, led by the ruling party.

In response, the People Power Party members of the Culture Committee immediately held a press conference, strongly opposing by saying, "Despite various controversies, the Democratic Party of Korea once again pushed through the bill unilaterally by leveraging their numerical superiority."

The Asia Special Act centers on dismantling the Asia Culture Institute and integrating it into the National Asia Culture Center, a national institution, converting it into an agency directly under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The Culture Committee held the agenda adjustment subcommittee around 9:20 a.m. that day, and at 10 a.m., the original bill was approved by a voice vote of 4 to 2. The agenda adjustment subcommittee was chaired by Democratic Party member Lee Sang-heon, with Democratic Party members Lee Byung-hoon and Jeon Yong-gi, People Power Party members Lee Dal-gon and Lee Yong, and independent member Lee Sang-jik participating as an additional opposition party representative.

In response, the People Power Party Culture Committee members immediately opposed, stating, "The Democratic Party appointed Lee Sang-jik as the opposition party representative and forced a unilateral voice vote without discussion."

They criticized, "Although Lee is currently an independent, he is practically no different from a Democratic Party member. The plan to push through the bill at the agenda adjustment subcommittee was already made, and Lee was appointed accordingly," adding, "We strongly protested the appointment of the member, but the chairperson did not accept it."

The People Power Party Culture Committee members claimed that they had pointed out issues with the Asia Special Act and requested revisions and supplements, but these were not accepted.

First, they expressed concern that during the process of converting Asia Culture Institute employees into national public officials, there could be controversies over preferential hiring. They pointed out, "Among the 96 employees of the Asia Culture Institute, a special provision allows those who wish to be hired as public officials without an exam," adding, "In a situation where youth unemployment is a serious social problem, this raises issues of hiring fairness that cannot be compared to the regularization controversy at Incheon International Airport Corporation (Incheon Airport Corporation)."

They further stated, "If the National Asia Culture Center becomes an agency under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism staffed by public officials, many experts believe that operational performance will not improve," and expressed concern that "having public officials lead an institution responsible for cultural and artistic creation infringes upon the domain of cultural and artistic creators."

They continued, "In fact, inside the Asia Culture Institute, there have been appeals that proper research and creative work are difficult due to interference from public officials," and criticized, "There are criticisms that the institution is being bloated into a national agency that cannot enhance expertise and efficiency for short-term reasons such as regional or organizational member interests."

They concluded, "If problems arise at the National Asia Culture Center related to these issues, the responsibility lies entirely with the Democratic Party," and said, "We have promised to support Gwangju's development as Asia's cultural hub city through sufficient budget allocation even if the National Asia Culture Center is not a national agency, and we will definitely keep that promise. We will do our best to normalize the operation of the institution."

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