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| Lee Jong-tae Courtesy of Lee Jong-tae |
By Park Ji-won
Lee Jong-tae, newly elected chief of the consultation body for parliamentary aides of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) said he wants to pass a bill to prevent lawmakers from easily firing their aides with his counterpart from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).
"Based on law, lawmakers can simply fire their aides after unilaterally submitting a request to the secretary general of the National Assembly. There has been criticism that the job insecurity is discouraging and makes it harder for aides to build their expertise at work. I would like to change the situation by changing the relevant law with the DPK to make it more difficult for lawmakers to just fire their aides like public officers," Lee said in a written interview with The Korea Times.
His remarks came after he was elected as the youngest head of the consultation body to represent the aides working for LKP lawmakers in July 4. The consultation body was founded in June 1990 to create a better work environment for aides of LKP representatives. He now works for Rep. Song Hee-kyoung of the LKP as a senior aide.
More than 2,700 aides are reportedly working at the National Assembly. Some 600 are senior aides. They are responsible for giving legislative assistance to lawmakers, from driving to coming up with bills.
There have been calls to change the working environment where lawmakers can fire their aides on the spot, putting the secretaries in a vulnerable situation, dependent on their bosses in order not to lose their jobs.
To change the situation, Kim, a skilled parliamentary aide at the National Assembly with more than 13 years of experience, and chiefs of consultative bodies of other political parties recently agreed to hold a seminar by this month as the first bipartisan move to discuss ways to pass the relevant bill on securing job stability at the National Assembly by November.
Stressing that the aides are working to create a better country, he said that he will meet with other aides more often to discuss ways to help one another and create a trusted Assembly in the future.
"I started my career as a parliamentary aide as an intern. That's why I know better than anyone about the difficulties of the secretaries. I will commit myself to play a central role in improving the rights of the aides for the LKP lawmakers and support them to do their best at work so that the aides can contribute to the development of the country."
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