A Parliament Losing Cooperative Governance... Ruling and Opposition Parties' Special and Standing Committees 'Going Their Own Way'

Opposition Appoints Floor Managers for Land and Health Committees
Ruling Party Strengthens Min-Dang-Jeong with Energy Special Committee
Discussion on Livelihood Bills Missing... Increased Public Harm

As conflicts over the organization of the 22nd National Assembly continue, the ruling and opposition parties are each conducting their own policy activities. The Democratic Party of Korea has convened full meetings starting this week through the 11 standing committee chairs it elected unilaterally. The People Power Party is responding by operating special committees at the party level instead of attending the standing committees. As the conflict between the ruling and opposition parties runs in parallel, there are concerns that key livelihood bills are drifting without progress.

According to political circles on the 13th, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee and the Health and Welfare Committee will hold the first full meetings of the 22nd National Assembly on the morning of the same day. The Land Committee plans to appoint Representative Moon Jin-seok as the opposition party secretary at the meeting and conduct a briefing on current issues such as measures to address jeonse fraud damage on the 18th. The Welfare Committee will also appoint Representative Kang Seon-woo of the Democratic Party as the opposition party secretary and begin discussions on current issues such as the Nursing Act and low birthrate policies. The Democratic Party, following the opposition’s unilateral convening of the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee the day before, reintroduced the 'Special Prosecutor Act for Chae Sang-byeong' at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

On the other hand, the People Power Party has launched operations of 15 internal standing committees, including the Energy Special Committee, Labor Special Committee, Foreign Affairs and Security, Disaster, and Education Special Committees. It is reported that the Energy Special Committee will propose the Special Act on the Power Grid as its first bill. Discussions with government ministries on policy issues have also begun. On the same day, the ruling party held a consultative meeting with the opposition to improve the short-selling system.

People Power Party Floor Leader Choo Kyung-ho (right) and Democratic Party Floor Leader Park Chan-dae are leaving their seats after answering reporters' questions following a meeting chaired by National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo at the National Assembly on the 27th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

As both parties hold their respective standing and special committee meetings, there are complaints among field government officials. This is due to the absurd situation where they must attend separate meetings of the ruling and opposition parties to report on current issues. A senior government official said in a phone interview, "While it is true that we prepared for the briefing in line with the opening of the National Assembly, it is honestly embarrassing to have to explain separately at each party’s meeting."

The problem is that bills prepared without bipartisan agreement may actually slow down the processing speed. The Special Prosecutor Act for Chae Sang-byeong, which was submitted the day before, is also highly likely to face a presidential veto. Various livelihood issues such as tax law and medical reform, which require bipartisan discussion, have yet to even sit at the same table for talks.

It is widely expected that the confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties will continue for the time being. Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, said to the People Power Party, "Ignoring livelihood issues is deceiving the people," while Choo Kyung-ho, the floor leader of the People Power Party, criticized, "The Democratic Party’s reckless rush has begun."

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