Ruling and Opposition Parties Agree on June Extraordinary Session Schedule... Agreement on 'Legislation Committee Chair Distribution' Fails

Ruling Party: "Legislation Committee Chair Already Appointed, Will Be Processed in June"
Opposition: "No Negotiations Without Legislation Committee Chair"

Choo Kyung-ho, Senior Deputy Floor Leader of the People Power Party, and Han Byung-do, Senior Deputy Floor Leader of the Democratic Party [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Junyi Park] The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to hold a plenary session this month to process laws related to compensation for losses suffered by small business owners due to COVID-19, as well as real estate-related bills. However, the issue of the distribution of the Chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which the ruling party had previously indicated it would push through during this month's plenary session, remains a point of contention between the two sides.

On the 4th, the ruling and opposition parties held a meeting between their senior deputy floor leaders at the National Assembly to discuss the legislative schedule for June. They agreed to hold party group representative speeches on June 16-17 and government questioning sessions from June 22-24. They also pledged to make every effort to pass the COVID-19 loss compensation law and real estate-related bills.

The parties also agreed to complete the National Assembly's recommendation process for appointing a special inspector within June.

However, the issue of distributing standing committee chairmanships, including the Chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, was not resolved during the meeting. Han Byung-do, senior deputy floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said to reporters immediately after the meeting, "The Chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee is elected according to National Assembly procedures, so it is naturally not subject to negotiation and is naturally held by the Democratic Party." He added, "We have already designated the next Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee."

He continued, "Although no agreement was reached, we strongly conveyed the position that it must be processed during this June extraordinary session."

On the other hand, Choo Kyung-ho, senior deputy floor leader of the People Power Party, said, "We strongly conveyed the position that we cannot engage in any negotiations related to the distribution of standing committee chairmanships that do not return the Chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee to the opposition party," adding, "We agreed to continue discussions on this matter."

He emphasized, "This is not about dividing up standing committee chairmanships, but about restoring the checks and balances and cooperative governance mechanisms that the National Assembly has maintained for a long time."

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