Ruling and Opposition Parties to Hold Plenary Session on 24th... Nobong Act and Broadcasting Act Deferred to Regular National Assembly

August National Assembly session end date remains unresolved... Ruling party "until 31st" vs Opposition "end this week"
Regular session schedule agreed... September 5-8 government questioning, audit from October 10

The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to hold a plenary session on the 24th to process bills during the August extraordinary session of the National Assembly. However, they decided not to handle the contentious bills?the Yellow Envelope Act (Amendment to the Labor Union and Labor Relations Act) and the Three Broadcasting Acts (Amendments to the Broadcasting Act, the Promotion of Broadcasting Culture Act, and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act)?during the August session.

The floor leaders of the People Power Party and the Democratic Party of Korea reached this consensus on the legislative schedule for the August extraordinary session on the 21st.

At the plenary session on the 24th, priority will be given to processing 12 bills related to flood prevention and damage relief, the amendment to the Public Official Election Act?which faced criticism for causing a 'lawless election banner situation' due to legislative gaps?and a bill to protect workers from heatwaves.

However, the ruling and opposition parties have yet to agree on the closing date of the August extraordinary session, which began on the 16th. The Democratic Party is requesting a recess period to prevent controversy over 'shielding' if the prosecution files an arrest warrant for party leader Lee Jae-myung, which would trigger a vote on consent for arrest. On the other hand, the People Power Party insists that unless there is a clear reason to shorten the session, the extraordinary session should continue until the end of the month due to the numerous pending issues.

Lee Yang-su, the senior deputy floor leader of the People Power Party, told reporters, "Since there was no separate agreement on the August session period, the session automatically runs until the 31st." He added, "We can negotiate until the plenary session on the 24th, but I think it will be difficult to reach any additional agreement by then." Democratic Party senior deputy floor leader Song Ki-heon told reporters, "Since the decision on the session period must be made at the plenary session on the 24th, we will continue negotiations until then," adding, "The Democratic Party aims to conclude the session within this week."

The ruling and opposition parties' agreement not to process the Yellow Envelope Act and the Three Broadcasting Acts, which were directly submitted to the plenary session under the Democratic Party's initiative, appears to have been influenced by National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo's request during a luncheon meeting with People Power Party floor leader Yoon Jae-ok and Democratic Party floor leader Park Kwang-on. Speaker Kim urged that "the ruling and opposition parties need to negotiate as much as possible." He reportedly expressed his intention not to put these bills on the agenda during the August session, stating, "If negotiations fail, the Yellow Envelope Act and the Broadcasting Act should be handled during the regular session." However, senior deputy floor leader Song Ki-heon said, "We plan to process the Yellow Envelope Act and the Broadcasting Act as soon as possible during the regular session," adding, "We will handle them according to the schedule as much as possible."

Meanwhile, the ruling and opposition parties agreed on the legislative schedule for this year's regular session, which begins in September. The regular session will open with a ceremony on the 1st, followed by four days of government questioning on the 5th (politics), 6th (foreign affairs, unification, and security), 7th (economy), and 8th (education, society, and culture). The representative speeches of the negotiation groups are scheduled for the 18th by Democratic Party floor leader Park Kwang-on and the 20th by People Power Party floor leader Yoon Jae-ok. Plenary sessions for bill processing are set for the 21st and 25th. The national audit will begin on October 10. The government's policy speech on next year's budget is scheduled for October 31.

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