By Kim Hyo-jin
The National Assembly plans to draw up regulations barring lawmakers from hiring relatives as their office staff this month amid escalating criticism over nepotism, its secretary-general said Sunday.
"The National Assembly Secretariat will revise the parliament's ethics regulations to restrict lawmakers from employing relatives as their aides," said National Assembly Secretary-General Woo Yoon-keun.
"It will be finalized by the end of this month after looking into such cases and collecting opinions of scholars and civic groups for the next week or two."
The move comes as public criticism is growing after multiple lawmakers were found to have hired close relatives as their secretarial staff, facing calls for the National Assembly to overhaul the regulations to prevent recurrence of such scandals.
In this respect, National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun vowed Friday to review the internal ethics rules to curb lawmakers' abuse of privilege.
Currently, it is not illegal for a lawmaker to hire family members or relatives at his or her parliamentary office. But the public is against any form of nepotism when many people are having a hard time landing jobs in the face of slower than expected growth.
The parliamentary ethics standards for assemblymen only stipulate that lawmakers should manage their aides in due diligence and should not use their payment for other purposes.
The law on lawmakers' allowances states the ground for disqualification to be secretarial staffs, but only includes those fined with over five million won on charges of obstructing Assembly sessions in the past five years.
Meanwhile, the opposition People's Party was embroiled in a controversy over loose investigation on its lawmakers' employment practices, Friday.
The party said earlier that its investigation found no case concerning nepotism among its lawmakers but was soon found that its lawmakers ― Reps. Chung Dong-young and Song Ki-seok ― have hired his wife's cousin and his brother's brother-in-law, respectively, in their parliamentary offices.
Rep. Lee Yong-ho, a party spokesman, denied the accusation, saying, "They are not categorized as relatives according to the civil law which limits the extent of relatives to one's third cousins and his or her spouse's cousins."
Some point out that the new parliamentary regulations should also clarify the extent to which relatives are banned from being employed.
Since the first nepotism scandal came to light on June 21, more than 20 secretarial staff hired by lawmakers have quit their jobs, according to Assembly officials.
Rep. Seo Young-kyo of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK), who then triggered the controversy over hiring relatives, is now waiting for a disciplinary measure from the party.
The ruling Saenuri Party banned its lawmakers from hiring within third cousins, Thursday, after its lawmaker Park In-sook was found to have hired her cousin and sister-in-law to secretarial posts.
The National Assembly plans to draw up regulations barring lawmakers from hiring relatives as their office staff this month amid escalating criticism over nepotism, its secretary-general said Sunday.
"The National Assembly Secretariat will revise the parliament's ethics regulations to restrict lawmakers from employing relatives as their aides," said National Assembly Secretary-General Woo Yoon-keun.
"It will be finalized by the end of this month after looking into such cases and collecting opinions of scholars and civic groups for the next week or two."
The move comes as public criticism is growing after multiple lawmakers were found to have hired close relatives as their secretarial staff, facing calls for the National Assembly to overhaul the regulations to prevent recurrence of such scandals.
In this respect, National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun vowed Friday to review the internal ethics rules to curb lawmakers' abuse of privilege.
Currently, it is not illegal for a lawmaker to hire family members or relatives at his or her parliamentary office. But the public is against any form of nepotism when many people are having a hard time landing jobs in the face of slower than expected growth.
The parliamentary ethics standards for assemblymen only stipulate that lawmakers should manage their aides in due diligence and should not use their payment for other purposes.
The law on lawmakers' allowances states the ground for disqualification to be secretarial staffs, but only includes those fined with over five million won on charges of obstructing Assembly sessions in the past five years.
Meanwhile, the opposition People's Party was embroiled in a controversy over loose investigation on its lawmakers' employment practices, Friday.
The party said earlier that its investigation found no case concerning nepotism among its lawmakers but was soon found that its lawmakers ― Reps. Chung Dong-young and Song Ki-seok ― have hired his wife's cousin and his brother's brother-in-law, respectively, in their parliamentary offices.
Rep. Lee Yong-ho, a party spokesman, denied the accusation, saying, "They are not categorized as relatives according to the civil law which limits the extent of relatives to one's third cousins and his or her spouse's cousins."
Some point out that the new parliamentary regulations should also clarify the extent to which relatives are banned from being employed.
Since the first nepotism scandal came to light on June 21, more than 20 secretarial staff hired by lawmakers have quit their jobs, according to Assembly officials.
Rep. Seo Young-kyo of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK), who then triggered the controversy over hiring relatives, is now waiting for a disciplinary measure from the party.
The ruling Saenuri Party banned its lawmakers from hiring within third cousins, Thursday, after its lawmaker Park In-sook was found to have hired her cousin and sister-in-law to secretarial posts.
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