Rep. Eun sets longest filibuster record: 10 hrs 18 mins

By Jun Ji-hye

Rep. Eun Soo-mi

Rep. Kim Kwang-jin

Rep. Eun Soo-mi of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) held a filibuster for 10 hours and 18 minutes during a plenary session of the National Assembly, Wednesday, setting a new record for the longest speech in South Korean history.

Rep. Eun began the speech at 2:30 a.m. and finished it at 12:48 p.m. as the third speaker of the opposition party.

The MPK kicked off the filibuster Tuesday evening at 7:07 p.m. to block the vote on a disputed anti-terrorism bill after Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa exercised his authority to put the bill to a vote.

The previous record for the longest speech at the Assembly was 10 hours and 15 minutes, recorded in 1969 by then-opposition lawmaker Park Han-sang, who sought to block then-President Park Chung-hee’s move to revise the Constitution to allow a third term in office.

Before this, the late President Kim Dae-jung had the record of giving a speech for 5 hours and 19 minutes in 1964, when he was a legislator, to block the passage of a motion to arrest a fellow politician.

The opposition party is strongly opposed to the anti-terrorism bill proposed by Rep. Lee Cheol-woo of the governing party, aimed at giving the National Intelligence Service (NIS) the authority to collect information on private communications, travel and financial transactions of potential terrorists. The MPK argue that there is a great possibility that the spy agency will abuse its power and use the law to monitor civilians and opposition lawmakers.

Rep. Eun who studied Sociology at Seoul National University became a lawmaker in 2012 under the proportional representation system.

While giving the longest-ever speech, she expressed concerns over the NIS’s possible intervention in domestic politics, occasionally massaging her waist with her own hands and stretching her legs.

Before Eun, Rep. Kim Kwang-jin delivered a speech for 5 hours and 32 minutes as the first speaker of the opposition party.

Rep. Kim said on Wednesday on Facebook, “How long the speech was is not important, and the people should think about why the opposition began the filibuster. We will do politics to protect the rights of the citizens, not for the President.”

Rep. Kim is also a first-term representative in the National Assembly elected under the proportional representation system.

The MPK said all of its 108 representatives are ready to take turns to continue the filibuster to block the passage of the anti-terrorism bill.

A filibuster is a parliamentary procedure to allow Assembly members to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a proposal through speeches.

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