Calls to Amend the 'National Assembly Act' Blocking Yoon Hee-sook's Voluntary Resignation... "Even the President Can Step Down"

Assemblyman Park Su-young Pushes for Related National Assembly Act Amendment
'Infringement on Freedom of Occupational Choice'
Seems to Originate from Japan's Cabinet Responsibility System Law

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] There have been calls to amend the National Assembly Act to require a plenary session resolution when a member of the National Assembly resigns. On the 1st, Park Soo-young, a member of the People Power Party, expressed his intention to push for the amendment of the related law.

On the 1st, Rep. Park announced, "I will propose an amendment to the National Assembly Act," signaling a revision of the law that currently does not require a plenary session resolution when a member of the National Assembly resigns.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He stated, "Rep. Yoon Hee-sook voluntarily expressed her intention to resign, which I believe is the first case of a constituency member doing so without any showmanship in the history of the constitution," adding, "She submitted her resignation letter, stopped attending standing committee meetings and plenary sessions, cleared out her office, and declared she would return her salary, but the resignation has not been processed. This is due to Article 135 of the National Assembly Act, which requires a plenary session resolution for resignation," he explained.

Rep. Park argued that this provision is unconstitutional. He pointed out, "Article 15 of the Constitution states that 'All citizens shall have the freedom to choose their occupation,'" and added, "Preventing someone from quitting their position as a member of the National Assembly to pursue other work is an unfounded restriction on the freedom of occupational choice."

He also noted that this is inconsistent with other elected positions. For example, presidents, mayors, and governors can resign immediately. Rep. Park criticized, "Only members of the National Assembly are required to resign through a plenary session resolution or with the speaker's permission, which is unfair."

There is also criticism that the rule requiring resignation to be approved by a plenary session originated from Japanese law. Rep. Park said, "Some politicians claim that this clause was created during the authoritarian era to prevent forced resignations of assembly members, but that is not true," and explained, "This provision has been included since the first National Assembly Act was established in October 1948." He continued, "Since this clause is also found in the Japanese National Diet Act and House of Representatives Rules, it is highly likely that our National Assembly Act copied it directly from Japanese law."

Rep. Park added, "Japan is a parliamentary system country, and in such a system, a member's resignation could cause the majority to collapse, leading to frequent general elections. This provision in Japanese law was likely designed to prevent frequent elections and maintain political stability," and introduced, "It can be assumed that our country, which does not have a parliamentary system, copied Japanese law as it was when establishing laws during the Provisional Government period."

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