Political Reform Committee Rushes to Pass '14% Proportional Representation Expansion for Sejong City'... Blame Game Over Delayed Action

Bill Belatedly Proposed After Being Omitted from the April 18 Plenary Session
Higher Proportional Representation to Apply to Sejong City Council
Set to Be Referred to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and Plenary Session

The Special Committee on Political Reform at the National Assembly passed the “Special Act on the Establishment of Sejong Special Autonomous City” (the Sejong City Act) on April 23. The content that had previously been omitted during the handling of the Public Official Election Act—including the delineation of constituencies for the June 3 local elections—was belatedly addressed.

On this day, the committee convened an emergency plenary session to pass the amendment to the Sejong City Act. While the revision of the Public Official Election Act raised the ratio of proportional representation in other metropolitan councils from 10% to 14%, the Sejong City Council had initially been excluded from this adjustment. The amendment brings Sejong City in line with the new level.

On the 23rd, at the plenary session of the Special Committee on Political Reform held at the National Assembly, lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties are processing the partial amendment bill concerning the establishment of Sejong Special Autonomous City. Yonhap News

The Sejong City Act amendment, which was submitted to the National Assembly on April 20, was sponsored by Kang Junhyeon of the Democratic Party of Korea and Kim Jongmin, an independent lawmaker. According to the amendment, “Since the Sejong City Council is governed by the Sejong City Act rather than the Public Official Election Act, a legislative omission occurred where the upward adjustment proposed by the Special Committee on Political Reform was not reflected,” adding, “The bill was proposed to swiftly remedy this legislative gap to ensure the smooth conduct of local elections.”

This means that a bill which had not been addressed during the previous revision of the Public Official Election Act was belatedly introduced and processed. As a result, the Special Committee on Political Reform expedited the process by omitting the usual deliberation period and subcommittee review.

However, when it comes to the responsibility for the delayed handling, the committee appeared to shift the blame to lawmakers representing the Sejong area. An expert advisor to the committee explained, “During negotiations among the floor leaders, only Jeju was included, and the Sejong issue was not reflected. The amendment was submitted only after this oversight was belatedly recognized,” adding, “The Sejong City Act was not submitted to the committee in advance, and although discussions about expanding proportional representation had been ongoing for two weeks, there was no amendment, which was puzzling.”

Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Hankyu countered, “In the case of the Public Official Election Act, the ratio of proportional representatives was increased from 10% to 14% for all areas except Sejong and Jeju, but the 14% is not a mandatory provision.” He added, “For Jeju, the ratio was raised from 20% to 25%. Regarding Sejong, I thought there was an intention to set the ratio between proportional and constituency seats, but if you look at the stated reason for the belatedly proposed bill, it incorrectly frames it as a legislative omission.”

Meanwhile, Kim Seungsoo of the People Power Party pointed out the need to review whether special cities and similar entities should have their own legislative standards for the number of council seats. Kim Seungsoo stated, “Jeju and Sejong are governed separately from the Public Official Election Act. In the future, if new special local governments are established, we must review whether to apply the Public Official Election Act or to enact separate laws for them.”

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