Opposition Submits Request to Convene July Extraordinary National Assembly vs Ruling Party Calls It a "Signal for the Restart of Legislative Dictatorship"

Democratic Party Submits Request to Convene July Extraordinary National Assembly on 28th
People Power Party Floor Leader Kwon Seong-dong "Very Concerned"

[Asia Economy Reporters Oh Ju-yeon, Geum Bo-ryeong, Park Jun-i] The Democratic Party of Korea decided on the afternoon of the 28th to submit a request for the convening of a July extraordinary session of the National Assembly. The Democratic Party's position is that they can no longer allow the legislative vacuum caused by the delay in the formation of the National Assembly to continue, but the People Power Party strongly opposed the Democratic Party's unilateral convening of the National Assembly, calling it "very worrisome" and "a signal for the restart of legislative dictatorship."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, stated at the party's countermeasure meeting on the same day, "Today (28th) in the afternoon, we will submit the request for the convening of the July extraordinary session and start the normalization of the National Assembly, which the ruling party has neglected." This was a follow-up to his previous statement that "the July extraordinary session will be convened soon to normalize the National Assembly and address livelihood issues and personnel hearings." The Democratic Party informed reporters in the morning that "the request for the convening of the July extraordinary session is scheduled to be submitted to the Secretariat at 13:40 today."

Park emphasized, "Until June, we will patiently and sincerely engage in negotiations to persuade the ruling party," adding, "We earnestly hope the ruling party will present a progressive concession proposal during this time."

As the ruling and opposition parties struggled over the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee throughout June, delaying the formation of the second half of the National Assembly, criticism within the political sphere has been growing.

Accordingly, last week, the People Power Party and the Democratic Party held a summit meeting between floor leaders to speed up the formation negotiations, but it fell through as the People Power Party opposed the conditions set by the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party proposed the formation of a Special Committee on Judicial Reform and the withdrawal of the Constitutional Court petition on the "complete removal of prosecution's investigative authority" (Geomsu Wanbak) bill as conditions for conceding the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending the party floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 28th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

The People Power Party reiterated its refusal, calling it a "forced bundling of the Geomsu Wanbak evil law," and instead proposed the simultaneous election of the Speaker of the National Assembly and the chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. On the previous day, Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, said at the Supreme Council meeting, "If the Democratic Party sincerely intends to return the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee to the People Power Party, I propose opening a plenary session to elect the Speaker and the chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee first," adding, "The Democratic Party should show sincerity in implementing the agreement by electing the Speaker and the chairperson simultaneously." This referred to the agreement last July that the Democratic Party would chair the committee in the first half of the year and the People Power Party in the second half.

However, Park immediately rejected the proposal, saying it was "like talking to a wall."

The Democratic Party emphasized that it can no longer delay the formation negotiations and that it could open the National Assembly from July 1 and elect the Speaker unilaterally if necessary.

In particular, the Democratic Party strongly criticized the ruling party's floor leader, who should be leading the negotiations at this critical time when the formation is delayed, for leaving the country on the same day as a special envoy to the inauguration of the Philippine president and being absent until the 1st of next month.

On the same day, Jin Seong-jun, the Democratic Party's deputy floor leader, appeared on KBS Radio's "Choi Kyung-young's Strong Current Affairs" and criticized, "The National Assembly has been at a standstill for over a month, yet the floor leader left the country as a diplomatic envoy, showing no intention to normalize the National Assembly." He added, "We cannot leave this legislative vacuum any longer. Therefore, the Democratic Party intends to convene the July extraordinary session," reiterating the position.

The People Power Party strongly opposed this.

On the same day, Kwon said at the morning floor countermeasure meeting, "The Democratic Party says it will submit a request to convene an extraordinary session unilaterally. I am very concerned this could be a repeat of the first half of the 2020 National Assembly."

Kwon pointed out, "Since the opening of our National Assembly, the only bad precedent of electing the Speaker unilaterally without bipartisan agreement was in the first half of the 21st National Assembly, when the Democratic Party monopolized the Speaker and the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee with its 180-seat supermajority," adding, "Moreover, the Speaker position is currently vacant, so there is no one to prepare the agenda. Also, there is no legal basis under the National Assembly Act to convene a plenary session."

He said, "There has never been a unilateral plenary session convened without bipartisan agreement," and warned, "If the Democratic Party unilaterally convenes a plenary session, it will be a signal for the restart of legislative dictatorship."

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