National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik Convenes Plenary Session... Will the Ruling Bloc Unilaterally Elect Standing Committee Chairs?

Breakdown in Negotiations Over Legislation and Judiciary Committee Chair
People Power Party Protests "Unagreed Schedule"

The floor leadership of both the ruling and opposition parties continued negotiations over the composition of the second half of the 22nd National Assembly, but talks broke down over positions such as the chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. As National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik has announced that a plenary session will be convened on the 30th, it appears likely that the standing committee chairs allotted to the ruling party will be elected under the leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea and other pro-government parties.

On the 29th, Han Byungdo, floor leader of the Democratic Party, and Chun Junho, senior deputy floor leader, met with Jeong Jeom-sik, floor leader of the People Power Party, and Kim Seung-su, senior deputy floor leader, at the National Assembly in the afternoon to discuss the allocation of standing committee positions.

After the closed-door meeting, Floor Leader Han told reporters, "(The People Power Party) is repeatedly insisting on only the Legislation and Judiciary Committee," and added, "We will immediately request the Speaker to open the National Assembly." In contrast, Floor Leader Jeong stated, "If (the Democratic Party) cannot concede the chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, they have declared they will unilaterally push ahead with the election of standing committee chairs at tomorrow's plenary session," emphasizing, "We cannot give up the chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee under any circumstances."

Yonhap News Agency

The Democratic Party has stated that it cannot delay the formation of the new committees any longer, and that it will convene a plenary session on the 30th to process the agenda for electing standing committee chairs. The reason cited is the need to handle livelihood and economic bills. After the meeting, Floor Leader Han and Senior Deputy Floor Leader Chun met with Speaker Cho to request the opening of the plenary session. Speaker Cho issued a notice for the session, which included agendas such as the election of standing committee chairs and the chair of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts.

The Democratic Party also intends to unilaterally adopt the confirmation hearing report for Prime Minister nominee Han Sung-sook in the event negotiations with the People Power Party fail, and to complete the prime ministerial confirmation process at the plenary session.

The People Power Party maintains its stance to block the opening of a plenary session that has not been agreed upon. After the breakdown in talks, Floor Leader Jeong and other People Power Party lawmakers visited Speaker Cho to lodge a protest. Both the Democratic Party and the People Power Party issued a "National Assembly emergency standby order" to their lawmakers in preparation for the plenary session.

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