'Chairman of the Legislative Committee' Agreement Broken... Concerns Over Legislative-Executive Conflict

Gathering Opinions to Defend the Legislation Committee for Follow-up Legislation on Investigation Authority Separation Violation
Kwon Seong-dong: "The Height of Arrogance and Shamelessness"

The second bill among the inspection reform bills, the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, passed the plenary session of the National Assembly on the 3rd. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] The Democratic Party of Korea broke last year's bipartisan agreement and declared its intention not to relinquish the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the upper house equivalent in the National Assembly, raising the possibility of frequent clashes between legislative authority and the president's veto power in the upcoming minority government scenario.

According to political circles on the 6th, if the Democratic Party, which will become the opposition party after President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol's inauguration, continues to hold the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the bills that the new ruling party intends to push forward could be repeatedly stalled. Conversely, if bills favored by the opposition pass through the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the plenary session, the new president could limit the opposition's bills by exercising the veto power. Because of this, confrontation between the executive and legislative branches during the legislative process is expected to be inevitable. Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, expressed concern in a radio interview that "It could create a situation where the Democratic Party uses the president's veto power, plunging South Korea into legislative paralysis."

The chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee has traditionally been held by the opposition party to prevent unilateral legislative dominance. However, earlier in the first half of the 21st National Assembly, the ruling Democratic Party took the chairmanship based on their proportional number of seats. This reduced the mechanisms to check the legislative dominance of the major party. Even during the recent legislative process related to the 'Complete Prosecution Reform' (Geomsu Wanbak), despite the Democratic Party's tactics such as causing their own members to leave the party and transferring them to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee to form a bill adjustment committee, Park Kwang-on, the Democratic Party's chair of the committee, convened the standing committee and passed the bill.

Within the Democratic Party, there is reportedly a consensus that holding onto the Legislation and Judiciary Committee is necessary for follow-up legislation to separate prosecution investigation powers. Changing the chairmanship without bipartisan agreement is impossible. Therefore, the prevailing view is that the Democratic Party will not agree to a new compromise. Jin Sung-jun, Democratic Party's senior deputy floor leader, said on the radio that "In the 20th National Assembly, the opposition held the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which hindered the proper advancement of government tasks, so in the 21st National Assembly, the ruling party decided to take the chairmanship. Since the ruling and opposition parties have changed, the negotiation for the second half's organization should start from scratch. It is an overreach for the first half's floor leaders to make agreements affecting the second half's organization." Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, criticized at a meeting that "Holding both the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the Speaker of the National Assembly simultaneously is the height of arrogance and shamelessness," adding, "How many more outrages must be committed? It is self-deception and a backlash against public sentiment."

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