The National Assembly barely looked at bills related to people’s livelihoods over the past two months because the ruling and opposition parties were deadlocked over President Park Geun-hye’s plan for government restructuring.
This outdated partisan strife disappointed ― quite significantly ― people who had hoped to see such pending issues resolved through dialogue and compromise with the advent of the new administration. The reality proved to be the opposite, but now it’s time for the rival parties to focus on tackling the needs of the people during an extra session of the Assembly that opened Monday.
However, this situation doesn’t warrant complacency. North Korea has been continuously ramping up threats and it is feared this will peak this week and continue into next during which the communist nation will observe two significant events ― the first anniversary of young leader Kim Jong-un ascending to the state’s dynastic throne on April 12, and that of the birth of its founder Kim Il-sung on April 15. Pyongyang’s belligerent rhetoric that has lasted for more than a month is beginning to affect the Korean economy across the board. The credit default swap (CDS) premium for South Korea ― the yardstick for credit default risks ― closed at 87.90 basis points on Thursday, up 24.26 basis points or 38 percent from March 7 when the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on North Korea for conducting its third nuclear test. At a time when prospects for this year’s economy remain bleak, foreign investors are reportedly poised to leave Seoul in droves from fear of possible North Korean action.
In this regard, the political community needs to awaken to the stark realities facing the nation and cooperate with the government in order to cope with the looming economic and security crises.
In the current session, the parliament must deal with 60 to 80 bills mostly related to people’s livelihood in the areas of the economy and social welfare. It’s fortunate that the rival parties are committed to processing the bills swiftly, but they are poles apart over two key issues ― a package to stimulate the slumping property market and a supplementary budget.
While both parties agree on the need for both, they differ on the details. For example, the governing Saenuri Party seeks to expand the scope of households that could benefit from tax breaks by enhancing the policy effect of a new housing package, but the main opposition party opposes this out of concern that it would only benefit the wealthy. But this is no time for them to engage in a war of attrition, given the severity of the country’s economic malaise. In addition, bills on anti-cyberattack measures and political reform must be handled during the current session. The opposition party, in particular, needs to refrain from being a drag on the new administration, considering that it has only just been launched.