Speaker gives ultimatum on constituency reform

National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa speaks to reporters at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, Thursday. He gave an ultimatum to the heads of both the ruling and opposition parties to break their stalemate over revising constituency boundaries. / Yonhap

By Yi Whan-woo, Jung Min-ho

National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa gave an ultimatum to the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties Thursday to break a stand-off over reforming constituency boundaries.

Speaking to ruling Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung and Moon Jae-in, leader of the the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, Chung made it clear that he will have no other choice but to put a reform bill to a vote, if they fail to agree on how to redraw the boundaries by midnight Friday.

Describing the current circumstances as “a legislative emergency,” Chung said maintaining the number of seats at 300 is critical to prevent possible chaos concerning constituencies ahead of the general election on April 13.

Once again, Chung urged the two party leaders to settle the matter before the current system becomes null and void in line with a Constitutional Court ruling last year.

“Chung talked mainly about what would happen, if we fail to reach an agreement, rather than how to do so,” Moon said.

The deal breaker has been the difference on how to select proportional representatives, with the ruling party pushing for a reduction in their numbers.

In October 2014, the Constitutional Court ruled that the current electoral map was unconstitutional and must be corrected.

The court said the map resulted in unequal representation, given that the least populous electoral districts outweighed the most populous ones by three seats to one. It said the ratio must be reduced to two to one at least.