Park, opposition parties back on collision course

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Fri, December 1, 2023 | 13:04

Park, opposition parties back on collision course

Posted : 2016-05-29 16:48

Updated : 2016-05-30 11:39

A policeman walks past a placard at the National Assembly building in Yeouido, Sunday, a day before the opening of the Assembly's 20th term. / Yonhap

New Assembly off to rocky start

By Kim Hyo-jin

The 20th National Assembly will begin its four-year term today, overshadowed by escalating political tensions between President Park Geun-hye and the opposition parties.

Park and the opposition parties are at loggerheads again, after Park vetoed the "hearing bill" that was passed by the 19th Assembly in its final session.

Opposition parties, which together secured a majority of seats in last month's general election, have vowed to resubmit the bill.

The clash over the hearing bill could derail ongoing discussions over the makeup of the new Assembly, analysts say.

The President vetoed the bill, designed to empower Assembly committees to hold hearings on state affairs whenever they are needed, throwing the political arena into turmoil.

The decision triggered an immediate backlash from opposition parties. They vowed to put the bill up for vote again in the upcoming Assembly.

Rep. Park Jie-won, floor leader of the People's Party, criticized Park for rejecting the bill while she was away in Africa, saying she should stop ignoring the Assembly.

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"She should've tried to express her opposition to the bill beforehand, through a meeting between the government, the presidential office and the ruling party," the floor leader wrote on Facebook, Sunday.

"Instead, she did it through an electronic veto in Africa during an unscheduled extraordinary Cabinet meeting when there was not enough time to convene a plenary session to review the returned bill."

He added, "The controversy will inevitably continue in the 20th Assembly as no authoritative interpretation is being made by legal experts, the government legislation ministry, or the Secretariat of the National Assembly."

The bill, which passed the National Assembly on May 19, was aimed at enabling the Assembly's committees to hold hearings on state affairs at their own discretion. The executive branch had been upset with the bill, insisting that the committees could paralyze the government with needlessly extended hearings.

Political observers agreed that it is unlikely to see smooth proceedings or cooperative politics in the 20th Assembly.

"Despite the outcome of the general election which made the opposition parties outnumber the ruling party, the President turned down the bill passed in the Assembly. It will propel the opposition bloc to further flex its muscles in whatever it needs to negotiate with the ruling bloc," said Lee Jun-han, a politics professor at Incheon University.

Lee said such a confrontation could delay negotiations over how to form the new Assembly. Floor leaders of the rival parties agreed last week to form the chair group of the National Assembly by June 7 and restructure the Assembly's committees and pick their heads by June 14.

"Opposition floor leaders will turn strong-headed to seek a bigger share while the ruling Saenuri Party wouldn't budge an inch due to momentum it gained following a rising expectation that Ban Ki-moon, the most favored potential presidential candidate, could stand on its side," he said.

Choi Chang-ryol, a politics professor at Yongin University, pointed out that Park's veto made it more difficult to realize the government's economic agenda in her remaining 18 months in office. She will have a hard time seeking cooperation from opposition parties for her key legislative agenda, including labor reforms.

"Park drove herself into the corner. Now, there seems no room for compromise on the controversial labor reform bill," Choi said.

"Morever, Saenuri floor leader Chung Jin-suk doesn't seem to be able to restore balance between Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party after his reformist move was crushed by Park loyalists within the party. With Chung hardly showing a flexible attitude in negotiations with the opposition parties, the prospect of cooperative politics in the 20th Assembly is definitely murky."

hyojinkim@ktimes.com