Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Ruling party seeks to cut salary for 'unproductive' lawmakers
Rep. Cho Jeong-sik, center, the chief policymaker of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), announces the party's pledge for the April 15 general election at the National Assembly in Seoul, Monday. He said the party would seek to cut the salary of lawmakers who often skip sessions. / Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
The National Assembly has long received public criticism over the lack of penalties given to lawmakers who fail to attend Assembly sessions or participate in relevant activities.
Amid mounting criticism of the “unproductive” Assembly, the ruling party has vowed to slash the salary of lawmakers with poor session attendance records.
However, it remains to be seen if the pledge will be implemented as planned because it contains some exception clauses that lawmakers may exploit.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) announced the plan as one of its campaign pledges for the April 15 general election, where 300 parliamentary seats will be taken.
“We have come up with the pledge in response to growing public calls for practical punitive measures against lawmakers who neglect their duty,” Rep. Cho Jeong-sik, the chief policymaker of the DPK, said at the Assembly, Monday.
In accordance with the principle of “no work, no pay,” the DPK election pledge is mainly focused on cutting lawmakers' monthly salary in proportion to their absence from parliamentary sessions which they are required to attend, among others.
According to the party, if lawmakers' absence rates stand between 10 percent and 20 percent, their salaries will be reduced by 10 percent and those whose percentage of missing sessions is 21 percent through 30 percent will have their pay slashed by 20 percent. A 30 percent cut will be imposed if the ratio of absence reaches 31 percent to 40 percent of total required attendance.
The ruling party also unveiled disciplinary measures that will ban those who are frequently absent from Assembly duties from attending parliamentary meetings for up to 90 days and even deprive them of their Assembly seats.
Such measures come as the 20th Assembly is under heavy fire for negligence of duty, with it being called a “vegetative parliament” by the public and press.
As of December 2019, lawmakers proposed a total of 23,133 bills, but 6,721 were passed, with the processing rate standing at a mere 29.05 percent, compared with 41.74 percent from the 19th Assembly.
However, critics cast doubts on whether such a pledge will be fully kept, saying it would be nothing but an attempt to curry favor with voters. They also claim that the party should legislate it immediately rather than proposing it as an election pledge.
Moreover, the salary cut includes some exceptions: If a lawmaker frequently fails to attend sessions, he or she will not be punished if able to submit documents showing the causes of absence in advance, such as a business trip or hospital visit, or if the person is a party chief or a Cabinet member.
Citizens were skeptical of the promise.
“You are trying to fool us again. This is what you always say when election is coming,” an internet user said on portal site Daum.
“What about this pledge: lawmakers get the state-set minimum wage?” another wrote.