Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
PDP leader vows to cut lawmakers' salaries in half for electoral reform
Rep. Chung Dong-young of the Party for Democracy and Peace, center, speaks during a press conference near National Assembly, Wednesday. / Yonhap
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won
Rep. Chung Dong-young, the leader of Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP) proposed cutting lawmakers' salaries to cover the cost of introducing an expanded proportional representation system to increase the number of lawmakers.
For the electoral reform, Chung said “The PDP will propose cutting lawmakers' monthly salary to 4.6 million won which is equal to a 2019 median income for one family with four people,” Chung said during a press conference to mark the New Year, Wednesday.
Citing the National Assembly Political Reform Committee's proposal of expanding the proportional representation system and the number of lawmakers to 360, Chung urged the introduction claiming, “It is a matter of giving ordinary people political chances and power.”
His remarks came amid stalled talks over electoral reform after leaders of five parties agreed in principle to change the system. The PDP and other minor parties such as the Bareunmirae Party and the Justice Party and civic activists have been calling for the introduction of a system similar to the German-style mixed-member proportional representation system (MMPRS) to prevent “dead votes” in elections.
The present system has been criticized as it is considered favorable to larger parties, which makes it difficult to establish a multi-party system, giving little chance to small parties to expand their presence in the Assembly.
Chung urged President Moon Jae-in to set up a “citizen's assembly” if the parliament fails to come up with a reform bill by this month.
“If the Assembly fails to solve the problem, the President can use his power to set up a citizen's parliament with 300 randomly picked people and let them come up with a reform bill.”