Kim Ki-hyun: "Democratic Party's Judiciary Committee Replacement is a Trick to Force Bill Passage"

Kim Ki-hyun, People Power Party Floor Leader, Visits National Assembly Speaker's Office in Protest
Raises Issue of Democratic Party Substitution, Suspects Speaker's Agreement

Kim Ki-hyun, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending the floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 5th, presiding over the final meeting. Floor leader Kim unusually announced his intention to resign early to enhance the negotiation power of the newly elected floor leadership on the 8th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] On the 7th, Kim Ki-hyun, the floor leader of the People Power Party, paid a protest visit to Speaker Park Byeong-seok's office. The visit was to raise issues regarding Speaker Park's decision to swap Representative Yang Hyang-ja to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and Representative Park Seong-jun of the Democratic Party, who was previously on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, to the Strategy and Finance Committee.

On that day, Floor Leader Kim said at Speaker Park's office, "The Democratic Party is doing this to freely pass the agendas they want in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee," and added, "I cannot help but suspect that the Speaker of the National Assembly is siding with the Democratic Party's plan."

Floor Leader Kim views this replacement as a violation of the agreed distribution ratio of standing committee compositions between the ruling and opposition parties, as well as a trick to forcibly pass the prosecution reform bill. The number of members in the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee is 18, with 11 members from the Democratic Party, 6 from the People Power Party, and 1 allocated to non-negotiating groups by agreement. However, in January, when the Democratic Party and the Open Democratic Party merged, Representative Choi Kang-wook changed his affiliation to the Democratic Party, changing the composition to 12 Democrats and 6 People Power Party members.

On the other hand, the Strategy and Finance Committee had 2 seats allocated to non-negotiating group members but was operated with 3 members including Representative Yang. The Democratic Party claims that the two representatives agreed to swap seats to normalize this, and that it was done according to the National Assembly Act, but Speaker Park's view differs.

Even if the People Power Party requests the convening of the Agenda Coordination Committee to block the Democratic Party's forced passage, if Representative Yang, who is from the Democratic Party, is appointed to the non-negotiating group seat, the Democratic Party can ultimately pass the agenda as they wish. According to the National Assembly Act, the Coordination Committee, composed of six members equally divided between the ruling and opposition parties, can pass agendas with a two-thirds majority. The Legislation and Judiciary Committee handles politically sensitive bills such as prosecution reform and special investigation laws, and holds the authority to review the system and wording of other bills like the major electoral district system.

Floor Leader Kim stated, "The People Power Party defines this replacement as illegal and absolutely cannot accept it," and emphasized, "The replacement is legally invalid, and the Speaker of the National Assembly should immediately stop this situation."

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