Progressive Party's Kang Seong-hee to Join Political Affairs Committee... Ruling Party Floor Leader Blocks Defense Committee Assignment

Yoon Jae-ok "Will Take Action Today"
Controversy Continues Over Kang Seong-hee's Defense Committee Assignment in Ruling Party

Yoon Jae-ok, the floor leader of the People Power Party, is resigning from the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee and moving to the Defense Committee. This move is seen as a response to the growing controversy over the assignment of Kang Seong-hee, a Progressive Party lawmaker who entered the National Assembly through the April 7 by-election, to the Defense Committee.

After the floor leaders' meeting held at the National Assembly on the morning of the 18th, Yoon told reporters, “Yesterday, I consulted with Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Kang’s first preference was the Strategy and Finance Committee,” adding, “We decided to appoint Kang to the Strategy and Finance Committee, and I, who am currently on that committee, will move to the Defense Committee.”

Yoon Jae-ok, floor leader of the People Power Party, is speaking at the floor countermeasure meeting held at the National Assembly on the 18th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Yoon further explained, “This matter is a procedural one where Kang’s preferred standing committee is accepted, and then the Speaker Kim Jin-pyo and the floor leaders of both parties consult to decide which committee to assign. Then, a People Power Party member currently on that committee will be sent to the Defense Committee. This is the stage of consultation,” emphasizing, “It was reported as if our party members had no interest in the Defense Committee and that the move was not possible, but that is not true.”

He also stated, “We will take action within today.”

Among the National Assembly’s standing committees, the only vacancy was on the Defense Committee, making Kang’s assignment there highly likely after the by-election. However, voices opposing Kang’s placement on the Defense Committee continued from the ruling party.

Jeong Woo-taek, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, wrote on his Facebook on the 7th, “The Progressive Party is the successor party to the Unified Progressive Party, which was forcibly disbanded by the Constitutional Court in 2014 as an unconstitutional party aiming to realize North Korean-style socialism and charged with conspiracy to overthrow the government,” and argued, “It is only natural to reconsider whether assigning a Progressive Party lawmaker to the Defense Committee, which handles national defense secrets, aligns with national interests and the spirit of the Constitution.” Seong Il-jong, a People Power Party lawmaker, also stated on Facebook the day before, “Kang is a figure from the Gyeonggi Eastern Alliance, which once dreamed of overthrowing the state,” adding, “Allowing such forces to handle highly classified national security documents and visit military facilities as members of the Defense Committee is tantamount to abetting acts against the nation.”

Meanwhile, to support labor reform, one of the three major reform tasks (education, labor, pension) of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, the People Power Party is officially launching the ‘Labor Reform Special Committee.’ The chairperson will be Im Eui-ja, a lawmaker from the Korea Federation of Trade Unions who currently serves as the ruling party’s secretary on the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee.

Yoon said at the floor leaders' meeting that day, “The Labor Reform Special Committee will hold its inauguration ceremony on the 26th and is scheduled to operate until the end of August, before the regular session of the National Assembly.” The committee plans to discuss policy alternatives and legislative measures focusing on improvement tasks related to the four major areas of labor reform: flexibility, fairness, labor-management rules, and stability.

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