Ruling and Opposition Parties Fail to Agree on Committee Formation... Scheduled to Meet Again Tomorrow at 10 AM (Summary)

Kwon Seong-dong, Acting President and Floor Leader of the People Power Party, and Park Hong-geun, Floor Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, are leaving the Speaker's office after attending a meeting of floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties presided over by the Speaker at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 21st, responding to questions from the press.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] Negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties on the National Assembly leadership formation ended empty-handed.

Kwon Seong-dong, Acting Representative and Floor Leader of the People Power Party, and Park Hong-geun, Floor Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, discussed the second half National Assembly leadership formation plan for about 45 minutes on the afternoon of the 21st, presided over by Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, but failed to reach an agreement.

After the meeting, Acting Leader Kwon told reporters, "Differences could not be narrowed, so we did not reach an agreement today," adding, "We decided to meet at the Speaker's office at 10 a.m. tomorrow to make efforts for an agreement."

Floor Leader Park said, "It was a time for frank and candid discussion," and added, "Based on the opinions we exchanged today, we plan to have a final meeting tomorrow morning with some thoughts."

According to Floor Leader Park, Speaker Kim said, "If a final agreement is reached tomorrow morning, a plenary session will be held in the afternoon; if not, the plenary session will be postponed."

So far, the ruling and opposition parties have been negotiating over the distribution of standing committees. The main issues were the Administrative Safety Committee and the Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee. The Democratic Party wanted to take both committees, while the People Power Party insisted on dividing them one each, failing to find common ground.

Although Speaker Kim intervened as a mediator on the 18th and arranged today's meeting, the negotiations ultimately broke down. Since the end of the first half National Assembly term on May 30, the standing committee vacancies have continued for 53 days.

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