National Assembly splitting in two ignores public will

Choi Min-hee, chairwoman of the Committee on Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Telecommunications, holds a plenary session at the National Assembly on Nov. 11 with ruling party lawmakers absent. By Park Min-kyu

The 22nd National Assembly has already set a record for dishonor as it opens. It began with the first “opposition-only opening session” in constitutional history on June 5, and on the 11th, six days after the opening, the ruling People's Power Party (PPP) proposed a resolution calling for the resignation of the Speaker of the National Assembly at the fastest time since the beginning of the Constitutional Assembly. The number of times President Yoon Suk-yeol to exercise his right of veto is also expected to hit an all-time high in the 22nd National Assembly. The political disappearance is prolonged amid extreme confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties.

On that day, the National Assembly was reeling from the aftermath of the opposition parties’ unilateral appointment of the chairpersons of 11 standing committees at the National Assembly.

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) began operating the standing committees at full capacity and held a meeting with the opposition alone on the day following the appointment. The party is planning to do the same for the remaining seven standing committee chairpersons if negotiations on the composition of the standing committees do not resume.

The PPP decided to boycott the schedule related to the composition and set up 15 own special committees to respond to pending issues. It aims to find a breakthrough through the special committees, consultation between the ruling party and the government, and active discussions on the revision of enforcement ordinances. The National Assembly and the government, the two pillars of national governance, are now operating separately, facing an unprecedented situation.

The PPP submitted a resolution calling for the Speaker of the National Assembly’s resignation at the fastest time in the history of the National Assembly. The day before, it accused Speaker Woo Won-sik of failing to fulfill his duty of neutrality in the process of the opposition’s unilateral appointment of the chairpersons. Bae Joon-young, the PPP’s deputy floor leader, said at the general meeting of lawmakers, "I will gather the opinions of all 108 party members into the party's agenda," receiving applause from lawmakers.

The motion to call for Woo’s resignation came six days after he was elected as the speaker of the 22nd National Assembly for the first half at the plenary session on June 5. It is 79 days earlier than the previous resolution calling on former Speaker Chung Sye-kyun to resign.

In the second half of the 21st National Assembly, the PPP proposed a resolution calling for the resignation of then-Speaker Kim Jin-pyo 88 days after he took office. It was the first time since the beginning of the Constitutional Assembly in1948 that a resolution was passed calling for the speaker's resignation in less than 100 days, and this time it took less than a week.

Many analysts say that there is a confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties that goes to extremes behind the unprecedented situation in constitutional history. The DPK unilaterally opened the 22nd National Assembly only with opposition parties on the 5th, a week after the 22nd parliamentary term began. The absence of the ruling party led to criticism of a “half-opening.” On the same day, for the first time ever, the election of the National Assembly speaker was handled unilaterally by the opposition. It was the first time that the opposition secured all three positions of the National Assembly Speaker, and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the House Steering Committee chairpersons.

The record of dishonors is likely to continue to accumulate. Despite internal and external criticism that "it is difficult to imagine for a ruling party to do like that," the PPP expressed its position that it could not follow the schedule of the composition of the standing committees.

The longer the ruling party's absence is prolonged, the more the record of dishonors accumulates. The PPP is also reportedly considering “politics of enforcement ordinances,” which actively seeks to revise enforcement ordinances through consultations between the ruling party and the government, putting aside the legislative power belonging to the National Assembly. Before the opening of the National Assembly, President Yoon asked ruling party lawmakers to "actively utilize the right of veto."

Kim Yoon-chul, a professor at Kyung Hee University, said in a phone interview, "No matter how overwhelming the difference in the number of seats is, the legitimacy of a decision will inevitably weaken if a majority party dominates the National Assembly with the number of its seats," adding, "The opposition parties can also go to a situation where it is difficult to be free from the responsibility of political disappearance." He also said, "The PPP’s boycott of the opposition’s agenda can be quite irresponsible for the ruling party. It is also important to consider that Yoon's exercise of veto power has had the effect of encouraging confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.