'2.9 Billion' Sevirupang Due to 3-Week Delay in Organizational Formation... 'No Work, No Pay' at 100 Million Won Daily

23rd Day of Legislative Deadlock in National Assembly... Calls for 'Salary Return' Arise
If Each Lawmaker Returns 420,000 Won Allowance, Total of 2.898 Billion Won Must Be Returned This Month
Third Meeting of Senior Officials from Both Parties Held on 21st
Positions Remain Divided, Blame Game Continues

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] As the National Assembly remains in a 'shutdown' state for the third consecutive week, the daily salary paid to lawmakers is leaking at a rate of 100 million won per day. Critics point out that the ruling and opposition parties are failing to fulfill their legislative roles due to power struggles over the formation of the Assembly. Some call for lawmakers to return their salaries under the principle of 'no work, no pay,' which would amount to a total of 2.9 billion won in salaries that should be returned based on the number of days the Assembly has been stalled.

On the 21st, the ruling and opposition parties agreed to hold a meeting of the senior deputy floor leaders in the afternoon to negotiate the formation of the second half of the 21st National Assembly. This is the third meeting following those on the 8th and 20th. However, since the parties' positions on the Assembly formation remain unchanged, the negotiations are expected to be difficult.

Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, is delivering opening remarks at the current issues inspection meeting held at the National Assembly on the 21st. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the party strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 21st and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

The key issue is the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. The People Power Party (PPP) insists that if the majority Democratic Party takes the Speaker position, the PPP should take the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and both positions should be elected simultaneously. On the other hand, the Democratic Party demands that the committee's authority over system and clause review be reduced as a precondition, proposing to elect the Speaker first and then resume negotiations on standing committees.

On the same day, Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the PPP, said at a morning briefing, "We officially proposed a marathon meeting yesterday, but the Democratic Party effectively rejected it," adding, "They only responded by telling us to choose between electing the Speaker first or presenting a concession plan. It is a threat that they will not negotiate unless the existing bipartisan agreement is broken," shifting responsibility to the Democratic Party.

He warned, "Concessions should come from those who have power," and said, "The Democratic Party must concede even the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. If they insist on having more, the National Assembly will continue to be in an abnormal deadlock."

In response, the Democratic Party also blamed the ruling PPP for the legislative vacuum.

Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party, said at a morning strategy meeting, "The real intention behind yesterday's marathon negotiations was to stubbornly stay in the same place," emphasizing, "The agreement between former floor leaders of both parties to concede the Legislation and Judiciary Committee only has meaning if the promise to correct the committee's abuse of power is fulfilled first."

He urged the ruling party to change its stance, saying, "Whether the bipartisan agreement is properly kept depends entirely on the PPP. Decide whether to elect the Speaker first to proceed with personnel hearings and legislation for people's livelihood, or to fulfill the promised compromise plan."

With no sign of progress in the Assembly formation negotiations, calls for lawmakers to return their salaries are growing.

On the 16th, Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Won-wook posted on Facebook, "The salary increases by 422,369 won per lawmaker per day," and urged, "The ghost Assembly that cannot form should declare 'no work, no pay' and return their salaries."

Calls for salary returns have been repeated whenever the Assembly formation is delayed like this. During the first half of the 21st National Assembly, it took about a month to form the Assembly; the 20th National Assembly took 57 days, and the 18th took 88 days. Although there have been occasional calls for salary returns, they were limited in scope. In 2008, the Grand National Party had only first-term lawmakers return about 7 million won each, and in 2009, the Democratic Party returned 10% of their salaries. Even then, talk of 'self-return' disappeared during the 21st National Assembly. Bills proposing to cut allowances and legislative activity expenses if lawmakers do not attend meetings were introduced, but most were symbolic and none passed full committee meetings to reach plenary sessions.

Professor Choi Chang-ryeol of Yongin University assessed, "Because their interests are directly connected, returning salaries will not be easy." A Democratic Party official also said, "Lawmakers are not inactive just because the Assembly formation is delayed," adding, "It is unreasonable to talk about salary returns solely because of delays in Assembly formation negotiations."

However, as lawmaker Lee claimed, if calculated at about 422,000 won per lawmaker per day, the total salary lawmakers should return for the stalled 21st National Assembly amounts to 2.898 billion won.

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