Gukhim Legislation Committee Member Visits Legislation Committee Chair's Office in Protest... "Urging Wise Judgment"

As the referral of the 'Complete Inspection Ban' bill to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee's Agenda Coordination Committee approaches, Yusangbeom, the opposition party's floor leader from the People Power Party, along with Park Hyungsoo and Jo Sujin, visited the chairman's office of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the 21st to protest and responded to reporters' questions. Chairman Park Gwangon did not answer calls and was absent from his seat. Photo by Yoon Dongju doso7@

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Hyun-ji] On the 21st, members of the People Power Party belonging to the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee paid a protest visit to the chairman's office ahead of the formation of a coordination committee to review the 'Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights (Geomsu Wanbak)' bill. Representative Jo Su-jin stated at the site, "The coordination committee should be composed of an equal number of members from both ruling and opposition parties, and three People Power Party members should be included as the opposition quota," urging "Chairman Park Gwang-on of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee to make a wise decision."

At the front of the chairman's office of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee in Yeouido, Seoul, Representative Jo explained the purpose of the protest visit to reporters, saying, "There is no trust that the principle of equal numbers between ruling and opposition parties will be upheld in the formation of the coordination committee." He added, "I have not yet received any contact regarding the schedule. We have decided to wait in our respective offices," signaling an indefinite standby in preparation for the Democratic Party's surprise passage of the bill. Chairman Park was absent due to an external schedule, so the meeting did not take place.

Representative Yoo Sang-beom, the opposition party's secretary of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee who joined the protest visit, said, "The Democratic Party's act of 'disguised resignation' of Representative Min Hyung-bae is null and void," and urged, "We call on the Democratic Party to regain reason, transfer Representative Min to another standing committee, and once again urge Chairman Park to form a proper coordination committee." The day before, the Democratic Party had forced Representative Min to resign from the party to include him as a coordination committee member from a minor party, replacing Representative Yang Hyang-ja who opposed the Geomsu Wanbak bill.

Earlier, the People Power Party recommended Representatives Yoo Sang-beom, Jeon Ju-hye, and Jo Su-jin as coordination committee members for the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. Although the original quota for the People Power Party was two members, this was in protest of Representative Min's resignation and placement on the coordination committee. Representative Yoo emphasized, "The original intent of the law in forming the coordination committee is to uphold the spirit that the majority party should not unilaterally process controversial bills, and to reflect the opinions of the minority party through cooperation and compromise."

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