National Assembly Organization Near Completion... Where Are the 7 Standing Committee Chairs?

People Power Party Accepts 7 vs Democratic Party Takes All 18
Plenary Session Likely Tomorrow to Complete Committee Formation

Speaker Woo Won-sik's deadline for the 'National Assembly organization negotiation' passed last weekend. The People Power Party and the Democratic Party of Korea continued negotiations over the distribution of standing committee chairpersons until the 23rd but ultimately failed. Accordingly, the People Power Party must decide on the 24th whether to accept the remaining seven standing committee chairpersons, excluding the 11 chairpersons elected solely by the opposition.

The Democratic Party, as the majority party, declared from the beginning of the negotiation that it would take the chairmanships of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the Steering Committee, and the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee. According to precedent, the chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee is held by the second-largest party in the National Assembly, and the Steering Committee chair is held by the ruling party that produced the president. However, the Democratic Party completed the election of 11 standing committee chairpersons by vote on the 11th in accordance with the National Assembly Act.

The People Power Party requested the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and Steering Committee chair positions three times. Just before the standing committee chair vote on the 11th, they asked to be given at least the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chair, and on the 19th, they said their proposal to receive at least the Steering Committee chair was rejected. They also proposed "alternating the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and Steering Committee chair positions annually." The Democratic Party effectively rejected this, saying "building trust comes first." The Legislation and Judiciary Committee is the final gateway to bringing bills, including the Chae Sang-byeong special prosecutor law, to the plenary session. The Steering Committee oversees the executive branch, as the Presidential Office is its audit institution, playing a role in checking and monitoring the administration.

Speaker Woo Won-sik is expected to hold a plenary session on the 25th to complete the election of standing committee chairpersons. The People Power Party must decide on the same day whether to accept the remaining seven standing committee chair positions. Within the ruling party, opinions are divided between those who believe negotiations over positions such as the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chair should continue and those who argue that they should at least secure the seven standing committee chair positions. The People Power Party will hold a party caucus at 10 a.m. on the 24th to discuss related matters.

The Democratic Party emphasized that even if the People Power Party does not submit a standing committee distribution plan by that day, it will complete the election of standing committee chairpersons at the plenary session the following day and take the remaining chair positions. Park Sung-jun, the Democratic Party's senior deputy floor leader, appeared on MBC Radio that morning and said, "If (the People Power Party) does not submit a standing committee distribution plan by today, I expect the plenary session to be held tomorrow to elect the remaining standing committee chairpersons."

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