Ruling party takes political risks through unilateral formation of committees

Seats for the main opposition United Future Party (UFP) lawmakers remain empty in the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee's meeting room, Tuesday, the day it was supposed to hold its inaugural meeting under the auspices of the 21st Assembly. UFP members boycotted the meeting after the ruling Democratic Party of Korea unilaterally conducted voting for chairmen's positions of six key committees at a plenary session a day before. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun

By Jung Da-min

The ruling party's unilateral election of heads of the National Assembly's six key standing committees, despite strong protest by the main opposition party, is causing debates over whether the move will be a success or a failure for the ruling bloc, with some criticizing the measure for being “autocratic.”

On Monday evening, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which has taken a supermajority in the 21st National Assembly with 176 seats out of the total 300, held a plenary session without the main opposition United Future Party (UFP), which holds 103 seats, and conducted votes to elect the six committee chiefs out of the total 18 committees.

The six included the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, a key committee overseeing major policies. Until the previous 20th Assembly, it had been customary for a member of the main opposition party to take the legislation committee's chief position to give the opposition bloc the power to hold the ruling bloc in check.

But the DPK refused to follow the custom this time, saying it cannot let the opposition bloc use the legislation committee to drag out the process of passing urgent and important bills, because the Assembly has numerous urgent bills to deal with amid the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 situation and mounting inter-Korean tensions.

Other than the legislation committee, the DPK also took the head positions of the Strategy and Finance Committee; the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee; the National Defense Committee; the Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee; and the Health and Welfare Committee.

While some political watchers claimed the DPK was damaging the principle of democracy by unilaterally pushing ahead with the formation of the committees, others said it remains to be seen whether the decision will turn out to be a success or a failure because it depends on whether the ruling bloc will bring about positive results in state affairs.

Shin Yul, a political science and diplomacy professor at Myongji University, said the DPK would continue to push ahead with the unilateral formation of other committees as well because the UFP does not have any practical means to resist after its crushing defeat in the April 15 general election.

But Shin said, “The DPK is misusing the power of majority in the wrong way, which is damaging the values and principles of democracy of cooperation.”

Choi Young-il, a political commentator and adjunct professor at Kyung Hee Cyber University, however, said whether the DPK's move will end up a success or failure will be determined early next year, depending on the political outcomes the ruling bloc achieves.

“If the ruling bloc succeeds in maintaining the country's economy to the current level until early next year by the time the economic index of 2020 will be revealed, public opinion will be in favor of the Moon Jae-in government and the people will not give significant meaning to the opposition bloc's protest against the ruling bloc,” Choi said.

“But if the DPK fails to overcome the country's economic crisis, the opposition bloc will be given an opportunity to fight back against the ruling bloc. At the current moment, the possibility is half and half as to whether the DPK's unilateral formation of committees will be a gain or loss for the ruling party.”

Meanwhile, the DPK said it will complete the formation of the remaining 12 committees as soon as possible.

The UFP, however, strongly opposed the DPK's move. National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug assigned 45 of its members “forcibly” to the six committees during Monday's plenary session, but they said they would resign from the committees in protest.

Earlier, UFP floor leader Rep. Joo Ho-young offered to resign after failing to secure the head position of the legislative committee for the party. But UFP members are calling for Joo to hold onto the party leadership.