National Assembly set to put reform bills on fast track despite protest

Lawmakers of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party hold a sit-in protest to block a meeting of the special committee on judiciary reform aimed to approve reform bills to be fast-tracked at the National Assembly, Thursday. / Yonhap

LKP members hold BMP lawmaker for hours

By Park Ji-won

The National Assembly is set to fast-track controversial reform bills to secure an early vote on them despite fierce opposition from the Liberty Korea Party (LKP) and several members of the minor Bareunmirae Party (BMP).

Two special Assembly committees on judiciary and political reform, both headed by liberals, plan to hold meetings soon to forward the bills to a vote. The bills, respectively, increase the number of proportional representation seats in the Assembly, establish a special investigative unit to look into alleged corruption by high-ranking government officials, and expand the police's independent investigative authority.

If they are approved by the special committees, they will be put to a vote in the National Assembly within 330 days irrespective of any bipartisan agreement. If the bills take effect, next year's general election will be carried out under a revised Election Law with an increased number of proportional representatives.

National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang approved the BMP leadership's request Thursday to replace its lawmaker, Rep. Oh Shin-hwan, who earlier vowed to vote against fast-tracking the bills, with Rep. Chae Yi-bae, a supporter of the reform measures. The speaker reportedly made the decision after being hospitalized the day before due to low blood pressure after a scuffle in his office with LKP members protesting the bills.

The replacement was necessary for the BMP leadership to push ahead with fast-tracking the bills as Oh openly opposed the move. Thanks to the replacement, the special committees are expected to promptly forward them to the Assembly.

Chae held the de-facto casting vote when added to the 10 in-favor votes from the parties supporting the move as the committee needs to secure 11 supporters out of its 18 members.

The meetings by the special committees were planned to be held in the early afternoon, but were delayed by a sit-in protest by LKP and some BMP members inside the Assembly. Chae was also trapped in his office for hours as lawmakers from the main opposition party prevented him from leaving. He called the police and firefighters to help him leave the office and was able to do so later.

The LKP and the group of BMP members oppose fast-tracking the bills, claiming it was a unilateral decision made without their consent. They filed suits with the Constitutional Court to seek an injunction to block approval and question the speaker's right to approve of the process.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and three opposition parties agreed Tuesday to fast-track the bills after months of discussions. The DPK, the BMP, the Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP) and the Justice Party held their own general meetings to push for the passage of the bills. The law on fast-tracking bills was initially passed to prevent them from being held up in the Assembly for too long after failing to win bipartisan support.

According to the Assembly Law, fast-tracked bills should be reviewed by the related standing committees within 180 days. If this is not done, the bills will be given another 90 days to be reviewed by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. If the committee does not do this, the bills will automatically be put to a vote within 60 days in an Assembly session. This process takes at least 330 days but can be reduced if parties agree to advance the bills.