Science Committee, Disrupted Amid 'Blame Game'... "Settlement First" vs "Woo Hang-cheong First"

Meeting Convened Solely by the Democratic Party on the 31st Disrupted
Democrats "Settlement First" vs. People Power "Must Resolve Woo Hang-cheong"
Democratic Party Chairman Jang Je-won and Secretary Park Seong-jung Only Attended

The full meeting of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Communications Committee was disrupted on the 31st due to a 'blame game' between the ruling and opposition parties. The People Power Party insisted that before setting the settlement schedule, an agreement on the schedule for the Special Act on the Space and Aviation Agency must be reached according to the 'first-in, first-out' principle, while the Democratic Party of Korea opposed, claiming the ruling party was not conducting the settlement review according to the predetermined schedule.

The Science Committee had planned to hold a full meeting in the morning at the request of Democratic Party members, but the meeting was adjourned after about 20 minutes without reaching a schedule agreement between the party secretaries. Most opposition party members attended, while only Chairman Jang Je-won and Secretary Park Seong-jung from the People Power Party were present.

The Democratic Party stated that the People Power Party did not adhere to the agreed schedule and thus requested a unilateral meeting, saying, "If the National Assembly is not going to work, then we might as well close the Science Committee." Jo Seung-rae, the Democratic Party's secretary of the Science Committee, emphasized, "The settlement is one of the most important tasks the National Assembly must perform. We need to properly evaluate the various projects carried out by the executive branch, but how can that evaluation process proceed if it is not conducted?" He added, "We repeatedly requested to proceed with the settlement even on Wednesday, but received no response. Can you avoid negotiations like this?"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, Democratic Party members of the Science Committee submitted a request to convene a full meeting the previous day. In a statement, they said, "We negotiated with the People Power Party for the 2022 fiscal year settlement review in August, but the People Power Party broke the existing schedule agreement, causing a breakdown," and insisted that the meeting must be held. The ruling and opposition parties had initially agreed to hold a full Science Committee meeting for the settlement review the previous day and a budget review subcommittee meeting on the day of the report.

The People Power Party pointed out that settlement reviews had not been conducted in the past and argued that resolving the stalled Special Act on the Space and Aviation Agency should take priority. Park Seong-jung, the ruling party's secretary of the Science Committee, said at the meeting, "I hope you reflect on your own actions. There was no settlement related to 2017-2020," and added, "When it came to last year's settlement, we asked for the appointment of that secretary, but the Democratic Party did not appoint anyone, and we could not attend the settlement. I don't know what they are boasting about."

Park continued, "Regarding the 'first-in, first-out' principle we raised, give us some clue or answer about the Space and Aviation Agency. Then we clearly said we would definitely conduct the settlement," but countered, "Apart from that, the Democratic Party insists on doing the settlement first unconditionally." Last month, the Science Committee held two agenda coordination meetings intending to elect a chairman but failed to reach a conclusion. The Democratic Party insists that Jo Seung-rae, the opposition party's secretary of the Science Committee, should serve as the agenda coordination chairman. On the other hand, the People Power Party maintains that Democratic Party member Byeon Jae-il should be chairman because Jo proposed a bill to establish a Space Strategy Headquarters opposing the establishment of the Space and Aviation Agency.

After the meeting, Chairman Jang and the secretaries of both parties agreed to discuss the settlement schedule and bills including the Space and Aviation Agency Act together. Chairman Jang explained that even if the meeting proceeded, it would be realistically difficult for ministers and agency heads to attend, and said, "I will do my best to bring the secretaries together and reach an agreement on the settlement schedule by today."

Meanwhile, the Science Committee also held a full meeting on the 21st to discuss adopting the hearing report on Lee Dong-gwan, then nominee for the Chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission, but the meeting was disrupted due to lack of agreement between the parties. The People Power Party insisted on agreeing to adopt the report before holding the meeting, while the Democratic Party argued that the meeting should be held first to discuss whether to adopt the report. Subsequently, Democratic Party members of the Science Committee created their own 'disqualification report' and visited Yongsan.

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