Tensions between parties reaching high over standing committee organization

Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon, center, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), speaks during a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, Sunday. Kim said the DPK is reviewing “all possible scenarios” in forming standing committees for the 21st National Assembly “as soon as possible,” as it remains at odds with the main opposition United Future Party in negotiations, with both claiming the chairperson's post of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

Tensions between the political parties over how to form standing committees for the 21st National Assembly have reached a peak, with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) pledging to push ahead with unilaterally forming them Monday if the main opposition United Future Party (UFP) keeps refusing its offers.

The two parties have already passed the legally set date to form the 18 standing committees ― June 8, three days after the opening session of the new Assembly ― arguing over the chairpersonship of the Legislation and Judiciary Standing Committee, a key committee conducting oversight on major policies.

The parties seemed to have reached an agreement last week as the DPK, which, as the supermajority of the new Assembly, stepped back from its initial claim to take all 18 leadership of the committees, saying it would “yield” seven positions to the UFP “in exchange for” the Legislation and Judiciary Standing Committee.

The seven major committees cover budget and accounts ― one of the two major committees it had earlier been claiming ― land infrastructure and transport; national policy; education; culture, sports and tourism; agriculture, food, rural affairs, oceans and fisheries; and environment and labor.

But the proposal was rejected by the UFP.

It is maintaining the claim that it has been customary for the main opposition party to take the chairperson ship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee to hold the ruling bloc in check, saying the DPK was attempting to monopolize the Assembly.

DPK floor leader Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon said its proposal was the “maximum concession” the party could offer the UFP.

“The DPK made the proposal by making the maximum concession to the UFP, accepting the requests from the opposition bloc as much as we could, as we were trying to implement our duty to work hard by completing the formation of the committees,” Kim said during a press conference at the National Assembly, Sunday, adding the DPK could scrap the proposal following the UFP's refusal.

Kim said the Assembly needed to complete the committee formation as soon as possible as a lot of legislative activities are awaiting, including the passage of this year's third extra budget to deal with the economic crisis from the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the DPK would push ahead with the committee organization at a plenary session scheduled Monday. Technically, National Assembly Speaker Rep. Park Byeong-seug, who recently left the DPK to take the speaker position, can divide the 300 lawmakers into the 18 committees and select heads of each committee with his rights as the speaker.

Meanwhile, as negotiations between the parties face deadlock, some UFP members say it should give up the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and instead take the other major committees that have been offered.

Rep. Chang Je-won of the UFP wrote on Facebook, Sunday, that the party should take the seven other committees instead of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. But he said the party should take the Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee instead of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, which was one of the seven the DPK had proposed.

“We need to make the cleverest and the most practical choice,” Chang said. “If we take the seven committees, we will hold the minimum tool of containment against the ruling bloc for issues that directly affect the people's lives,” he wrote.