Constitution Day Without the National Assembly... Ruling and Opposition Parties Still Struggling Over Committee Formation, Blaming Each Other

People Power Party "Blocked by Democratic Party's Unstoppable Arrogance"
Democratic Party "Cowardly Trick by Ruling Party to Delay Committee Formation"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] The latter half of the 21st National Assembly marked the 74th Constitution Day amid a legislative vacuum. The ruling and opposition parties broke their promise to complete the negotiation for the parliamentary organization before Constitution Day and once again shifted the responsibility onto each other.

Yang Geum-hee, the floor spokesperson for the People Power Party, criticized on the 17th in a statement, "The Democratic Party, which constantly advocated for a 'working National Assembly' during its time in power, has now become the opposition and is not only failing to work but has brought the National Assembly to a standstill."

Yang added, "The People Power Party has taken a magnanimous approach by prioritizing the election of the Speaker of the National Assembly to promptly address urgent livelihood issues and even proposed allowing the Democratic Party to choose their preferred standing committees between the Public Administration and Security Committee and the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee. However, due to the Democratic Party's relentless arrogance, the National Assembly has failed to organize itself and has faced Constitution Day without a proper setup."

He continued, "We once again request the Democratic Party to participate in the normalization of the National Assembly with an attitude that serves the people and respects the spirit of the Constitution. Politics that sacrifice the Constitution for partisan interests and destroy democracy for power must no longer exist."

Kim Hyung-dong, the chief spokesperson, also stated, "There are numerous tasks the National Assembly must undertake currently. We need to resolve the livelihood difficulties of ordinary citizens and vulnerable groups suffering from an unprecedented complex economic crisis, pass livelihood bills and deregulation laws to act as a catalyst for economic revival." He especially emphasized the need to uncover the truth behind the 2019 'North Korean fisherman repatriation' incident and the 2020 West Sea public official killing incident, saying, "Together with the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, we must complete reform tasks facing our society such as pensions, labor, and education, and create a Korea moving toward the future. Reflecting on today's constitutional spirit, we will build bipartisan cooperation thinking only of the people."

On the other hand, Cho Oh-seop, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea, blamed the People Power Party for the legislative vacuum, stating in a commentary that the reason for facing 'Constitution Day without a National Assembly' is "the cowardly trick of the ruling party to delay the opening of the National Assembly that would monitor and check the Yoon Seok-yeol administration as much as possible."

Cho also said, "Our Constitution, now in its 74th year, is being seriously damaged by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's rule by presidential decrees. The Constitution divides state power into legislative, judicial, and executive branches through separation of powers to check and balance each other, but the Yoon administration is turning the legislature into a puppet through amendments to presidential decrees and is seizing control of all power institutions," criticizing the government. He added, "The Democratic Party will protect the constitutional values that uphold the basic principles of state operation, the rights and duties of the people, democracy and peace, freedom and equality, and human rights through the prompt normalization of the National Assembly."

Additionally, Cho stated, "We will especially block the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, which seeks to dominate above the Constitution through control of power institutions and destruction of separation of powers, erasing the previous government, political retaliation investigations, controversies over hiring relatives and acquaintances, unofficial close aides, and 'my way personnel' controversies."

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