Four Distinctive Styles of Opposition Floor Leader Candidates Seen Through Bills

People Power Party Floor Leader to Be Elected on the 30th
Kwon Seong-dong, Kim Ki-hyun, Kim Tae-heum, Yoo Ui-dong Running

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] On the 30th, the People Power Party will elect a new floor leader. Depending on who becomes the floor leader of the main opposition party, not only the direction of handling livelihood-related bills but also the operation of the National Assembly until next year’s presidential election will inevitably undergo significant changes. Clues to the future political operation directions of the four candidates?Kwon Seong-dong, Kim Gi-hyeon, Kim Tae-heum, and Yoo Ui-dong?could be found in the legislation over the past 11 months. Their priorities differed from strengthening prosecutorial independence to National Assembly operations and environmental policies.

According to the National Assembly Bill Information System on the 25th, the People Power Party floor leader candidates each proposed about 10 to 20 bills. First, Representative Kwon Seong-dong introduced a bill to amend the Prosecutors’ Office Act to strengthen prosecutorial independence. This bill includes provisions for the prosecution to prepare its budget separately from the Ministry of Justice, extends the Prosecutor General’s term to four years, and removes the Ministry of Justice Minister’s authority to direct or supervise individual cases. Additionally, regarding prosecutorial personnel, if the Prosecutor General recommends, the Minister of Justice can propose the appointment to the President in a formal manner.

Judging from this bill, if Representative Kwon Seong-dong, who is from the prosecution, is elected floor leader, it is expected that he will either reverse the current government’s prosecutorial reforms or strongly oppose the ongoing reforms. The government and ruling party have been working to decentralize the powers currently concentrated in the prosecution through prosecutorial reform. In contrast, Representative Kwon proposed a bill focusing on strengthening the prosecution’s independence in terms of budget, organization, and personnel.

Kwon Seong-dong, member of the People Power Party./Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

In addition, Representative Kwon Seong-dong also proposed an amendment to the Commercial Act that abolishes the 3% rule, which limits the voting rights of major shareholders to 3% in matters such as the introduction of differential voting rights and the appointment of audit committee members.

Representative Kim Gi-hyeon proposed an amendment to the National Assembly Act that legally resolves the issue of the Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which has been a contentious point between the ruling and opposition parties since last year’s organizational negotiations. According to this amendment, the party that produces the Speaker of the National Assembly cannot hold the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and standing committee chairpersons are to be divided according to the proportion of seats held by the ruling and opposition parties. Representative Kim stated that "approaching this issue through law is a last resort," emphasizing that it should be addressed through parliamentary customs and traditions before legal measures.

Kim Ki-hyun, member of the People Power Party. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Additionally, Representative Kim Gi-hyeon proposed amendments to the Labor Standards Act to allow workers undergoing infertility treatment to reduce working hours, and an amendment to the Value-Added Tax Act to permanently exempt VAT on infant diapers and formula.

Representative Kim Tae-heum proposed an amendment to the National Finance Act to update the criteria for preliminary feasibility studies. Currently, a preliminary feasibility study is conducted if the total project cost exceeds 50 billion KRW and the national financial support exceeds 30 billion KRW. The amendment lowers the threshold to a total project cost of 100 billion KRW and national financial support of 50 billion KRW.

Furthermore, Representative Kim Tae-heum proposed a bill to include delivery services within the school environment protection zones around schools to enhance student commuting safety.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Representative Yoo Ui-dong proposed an amendment to the National Assembly Act aimed at strengthening the deliberation period. Under the current law, after the review of a bill is completed and the report is submitted to the Speaker, at least one day must pass before it can be scheduled for a session. However, exceptions can be made through consultation with the leaders of negotiation groups. Regarding this, Representative Yoo pointed out in his explanatory statement that "there are cases where bills reviewed by committees are scheduled for plenary sessions within a short time, causing lawmakers to be insufficiently informed about the government’s stance on the bills." To address this, he proposed an amendment stipulating that if less than seven days have passed since the committee submitted the report or bill to the Speaker, the bill cannot be scheduled for a session.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Additionally, Representative Yoo proposed the ‘Basic Act on Climate Crisis Response’ and other bills requiring the government to establish a comprehensive national plan for climate crisis response every five years, and for both central and local governments to formulate and implement related action plans.

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