Democratic Party Accepts Ruling Party's Opinion on "Standing Committee Chairpersons to Be Elected by Bipartisan Agreement"... Criminal Procedure Special Committee to Be Discussed Later

Opposition Accepts 'Ruling and Opposition Agreement' Condition
Issues Like Special Committee on Criminal Law Reform Remain Unresolved

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] The Democratic Party of Korea has accepted the People Power Party's proposal to elect the National Assembly standing committee chairpersons through bipartisan agreement.

Park Hong-geun, the floor leader, stated at the National Assembly party meeting on the 4th, "If the People Power Party cooperates in electing the second half National Assembly Speaker at today's plenary session, our Democratic Party will accept the opinion proposed by the People Power Party at this morning's party meeting to elect the standing committee chairpersons through bipartisan agreement as soon as possible," adding, "We will wait for the People Power Party's position instead of immediately starting after the afternoon plenary session."

Earlier, Kwon Seong-dong, the floor leader of the People Power Party, told reporters after the morning party meeting that if the Democratic Party's floor leader promises to elect the standing committee chairpersons through bipartisan agreement within a short period rather than unilaterally, they would cooperate in electing the National Assembly Speaker today.

However, Park said, "There is an obligation to fulfill agreement upon agreement, promise upon promise," but added, "Issues such as the appointment of the Judiciary Committee chairperson and the Special Committee on Judicial Reform members must continue to be agreed upon during the negotiation process for electing standing committee chairpersons and organizing the Assembly."

He continued, "The Democratic Party and I will break down the walls blocking livelihood bills one by one," emphasizing, "We will end the shutdown and actively respond to the high inflation, high interest rate, and livelihood economic crisis. Once the National Assembly Speaker is elected today, we will proceed with handling urgent issues for normalizing the Assembly, such as reducing fuel tax and supporting meal costs."

After the party meeting, he told reporters, "Until yesterday's negotiations, the Democratic Party consistently requested the People Power Party to elect the Speaker, stating that the National Assembly's vacancy and the long-term vacancy of the legislative head are absolutely undesirable, and that electing the Speaker is inevitable to resolve the economic crisis and carry out procedures such as confirmation hearings," adding, "The People Power Party's decision to cooperate in electing the Speaker without showing partisan conflict or extreme confrontation is meaningfully evaluated."

Nevertheless, he said, "Although the Speaker election will be concluded today, the task of fulfilling promise upon promise remains to resolve distrust between the two parties," explaining, "Therefore, bipartisan consultations on contentious issues such as the Special Committee on Judicial Reform, and more importantly, the repetitive extreme and wasteful political conflicts over the Judiciary Committee chairperson every two years must be stopped. Along with this process, the Budget and Accounts Committee has become a mere shell, which is a shameful aspect of the Assembly. Improving this and other reforms remain important tasks for the second half of the 21st National Assembly."

Regarding additional discussions on the Special Committee on Judicial Reform, he said, "We will continue to consult together," but firmly stated, "Requests such as allowing the People Power Party to take the chairperson position or making the committee composition evenly split between the two parties are unreasonable." He added, "Such demands ultimately contain a strategic intention to block the operation of the Special Committee on Judicial Reform until the end, which I interpret as a refusal to negotiate, and I will continue to view it that way."

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