Ruling and Opposition Parties Accelerate Discussions on Public Official Election Act Amendment and Supplementary Budget... Plenary Session on the 5th of Next Month

"Public Official Election Act, No Objection to Processing if Agreement Reached"
Senior Deputy Representative Meets with Political Affairs Special Committee Secretary to Review Issues
"Supplementary Budget, Will Strive for Compensation Soon After Submission"

Kim Gi-hyun, floor leader of the People Power Party, and Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who attended the meeting of floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties held at the National Assembly on the 30th, presided over by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok, pose before the meeting begins. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to hold a plenary session at the National Assembly on the 5th of next month. This is to actively discuss the submission of the Public Official Election Act amendment bill, which centers on the introduction of a medium-large electoral district system for basic councilors in the June local elections. They also plan to urge the preparation of the second supplementary budget.

On the 30th, Park Byeong-seok, Speaker of the National Assembly, presided over a meeting with Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Kim Ki-hyun, floor leader of the People Power Party, where they agreed to convene the plenary session on the 5th of next month. The intention is to hold the plenary session before the April extraordinary session, on the last day of the March extraordinary session, to quickly proceed with discussions on the controversial Public Official Election Act amendment and the supplementary budget. In his opening remarks, Speaker Park said, "You must quickly reach an agreement on local autonomy-related laws ahead of the local elections, including the second supplementary budget issue for COVID-19 loss compensation."

Jin Seong-jun, senior deputy floor leader of the Democratic Party, told reporters that day, "There is no disagreement on processing the bill once an agreement is reached," adding, "We agreed to promptly hold a four-party meeting hosted by the senior deputy floor leaders and the secretaries of the Special Committee on Political Reform to discuss the key issues."

At the meeting, the floor leaders of both parties formed a consensus on the purpose of amending the Public Official Election Act. Floor leader Park said, "The Public Official Election Act must be processed quickly so that practical preparations for the local elections can proceed, and this issue must be settled," adding, "Through this opportunity, it is necessary to show the public a structure that relinquishes the dominance of the two major parties, reflecting diverse voices through the local elections." Floor leader Kim also said, "The Public Official Election Act should actually be processed as soon as possible," adding, "There is confusion because the electoral districts for some regional councilors, starting with basic councilors, have not been finalized."

However, there were still differences in detailed coordination matters. Floor leader Kim said, "The issue of the medium-large electoral district system is an agenda that should be viewed from a broad perspective, such as whether to reform the election system or adopt a multi-party system, including how to operate the national governance system and how to set electoral districts for National Assembly members and regional councils, rather than starting from basic councils," expressing a de facto opposing opinion by stating, "It is not desirable to make changes to basic councils within a short period." In response, floor leader Park countered, "In the case of basic councilors, only one or two existing provisions need to be changed," adding, "So the two major parties just need to make a little more effort."

They also agreed to push forward the supplementary budget bill with a sense of urgency. Although there are still differences in viewpoints, the plan is to review the supplementary budget bill quickly once it is submitted by the government. Song Eon-seok, senior deputy floor leader of the People Power Party, said, "From the National Assembly's standpoint, once the supplementary budget bill is submitted, we will do our best to complete the review as soon as possible so that loss compensation for small business owners can be provided."

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