Assembly speaker may call vote on NK bill
By Kim Hyo-jin
National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa is likely to soon exercise his right to call a parliamentary vote on disputed bills drawn up to address human rights abuses in North Korea and reducing legal restrictions on corporations.
Chung, who has mediated between rival parties on the details of the pending bills, will “make a final decision” soon, his aides said Monday, indicating that he may put the bills to a vote in order to end the current legislative deadlock over the bills.
The speaker, formally a member of the ruling Saenuri Party, is currently under increasing pressure from the ruling party to call a vote.
On Monday, Chung planned to hold a trilateral meeting with the chairmen of the ruling party and the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK), but had to postpone this due to wide differences over the bills’ content.
“The meeting was postponed because Chung thought the Saenuri Party needed time to fine-tune the matter with Cheong Wa Dae and the government prior to the Assembly negotiations,” said an aide to Chung.
The Saenuri Party demanded that Chung call a parliamentary vote on the bills before the Lunar New Year holiday to prevent the MPK from holding them up. It requested a plenary session to be held between Wednesday and Friday, according to the Saenuri Party floor leader Rep. Won Yoo-chul.
“The Assembly speaker needs to present a solution to the public in this parliamentary state of emergency where parties do not stick to their own agreement,” Won said during a party meeting.
The call was fueled after the MPK overturned a previous compromise reached to have a vote on the North Korea human rights bill and a corporate revitalization bill first, among a number of contentious bills during a plenary session Friday.
Expectations were high for the scheduled proceeding, based on an agreement reached by party floor leaders on Jan. 23. But this was derailed after parties began trading barbs over the wording of a clause on the human rights bill at the last-minute, said party officials.
The disputed issue was whether to highlight the need to advocate for improved human rights in the North or make this sound more balanced by addressing it in context of improving inter-Korean relations.
While the ruling party has pushed for emphasizing the aim of the bill, the opposition has been cautious of the wording, and concerned about provoking the repressive nation and worsening inter-Korean relations.
If passed and implemented, the bill would establish a foundation to better monitor North Korea’s human rights record and develop preventive measures while setting up an archive to preserve written testimonies and other resources on related issues; along with the establishment of an advisory committee to be put under the wing of the Ministry of Unification.
The passage of the corporate revitalization bill, or “One-Shot Act,” is also faced by opposition from hardliners in the MPK. They express concerns that this bill, aimed at reducing legal procedures for business would only benefit conglomerates.
However, the MPK blamed the Saenuri Party for the derailed agreement.
“After dealing with the two bills, the Saenuri Party plans to push for other pending economic and labor bills at the exchange of agreeing with redrawing constituency boundaries, which we hardly accept,” said Rep. Rhee Mok-hee, MPK’s chief policymaker.
The Saenuri Party has strongly backed the economic and labor reform bills, which they argue would create more jobs in line with the move by President Park Geun-hye focusing on revitalization of the economy.
Park earlier joined calls to pressure the Assembly to endorse the bills but the MPK denounced her move, voicing against the bill’s content would generate more non-regular workers and job instability.
The opposition is putting more priority on redrawing the electoral map which was delayed for months due to difference of opinion on how to run the proportional representative system. The general assembly elections are scheduled in April 13.