Speaker Jo Jeong-sik Urges Ruling and Opposition Parties to Finalize Committee Formation Before Constitution Day

Speaker Presides Over Meeting With Floor Leaders From Both Parties

"Strongly Urges Swift Agreement Between Ruling and Opposition Parties"

On July 9, National Assembly Speaker Joo Jung-sik strongly urged the floor leaders of both the ruling and opposition parties to reach an agreement on the formation of parliamentary committees before Constitution Day.

Byungdo Han, Acting Leader and Floor Leader of the Democratic Party, and Jeong Jeomsik, Floor Leader of the People Power Party, are coming out of the Speaker's office after a meeting of floor leaders presided over by Speaker Joo Jung-sik at the National Assembly on the 9th. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

That afternoon, Speaker Joo presided over a meeting with floor leaders from both parties in his office to press for an agreement on the formation of the committees for the latter half of the 22nd National Assembly. The meeting was attended by Byungdo Han, Acting Leader and Floor Leader of the Democratic Party, Chun Junho, Senior Deputy Floor Leader for Parliamentary Affairs, Jeong Jeomsik, Floor Leader of the People Power Party, and Kim Seungsu, Senior Deputy Floor Leader for Parliamentary Affairs.

The meeting lasted about ten minutes. Jang Hyunju, Senior Spokesperson for Public Communication at the Speaker’s Office, told reporters afterwards, "(Speaker Joo) urged them to quickly negotiate to normalize parliamentary operations as soon as possible," adding, "In particular, Constitution Day falls next week on the 17th. He strongly called for a swift agreement so that the committee formation can be completed before then."

Spokesperson Jang also explained, "Furthermore, I understand that there are about 59 bills left unaddressed from the first half of the National Assembly. He emphasized the urgency of handling those bills, especially those related to people's livelihoods, and ordered the parties to quickly reach an agreement on the schedule for dealing with them."

Jang added that both floor leaders acknowledged Speaker Joo’s request, saying, "There was some consensus on the need to negotiate swiftly." However, she noted, "It remains to be seen exactly how the two parties will negotiate in detail."

Even though Speaker Joo once again called in the floor leaders to urge negotiations—as he had on June 30—it is still uncertain whether the two parties will make any progress. Within the People Power Party, there are doubts that a swift agreement can be reached before Constitution Day, given the wide gap between the parties’ positions.

The timing of the next plenary session is also difficult to predict. Previously, the Democratic Party had insisted that a plenary session be held that day to process the 59 bills that have been referred to the floor, but this did not materialize amid the ongoing conflict between the parties. Spokesperson Jang stated, "(As for the timing of the plenary session) for now, we need to wait and see how the two parties negotiate."

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