Assembly passes 28 livelihood bills in rare bipartisan move

Rival parties pass Nursing Act, specifying their roles, despite doctors' wariness

From left: People Power Party Floor Leader Rep. Choo Kyung-ho, National Assembly Speaker Rep. Woo Won-shik and Democratic Party of Korea Floor Leader Rep. Park Chan-dae pose for a photo during a meeting of the floor leaders at the Assembly in western Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap)

The National Assembly on Wednesday passed a total of 28 bills aimed at improving the people’s livelihoods, marking the first time the rival parties showed such bipartisan support in advancing legislation since the 22nd Assembly started its four-year session in late May.

Among the 28 was the Nursing Act, which specifies the roles and responsibilities, while providing better legal protection, for nurses and nursing assistants, across the country. The bill is in line with the Korean Nursing Association's claims that nurses have been forced to serve roles that even fall beyond legal boundaries, especially since most of the junior doctors at major hospitals staged a walkout in February to protest the government's plan to hike the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 students each year. The bill passed in a 283-2 vote, with 5 abstentions.

The Korean Medical Association, the country's largest doctors' organization, released a statement protesting the bipartisan move to pass the nursing bill, a few hours ahead of Wednesday’s plenary session.

“We, the doctors, plan to make (the Assembly) pay its price for (passing the bill),” the KMA said in the statement.

“The bill will lead to rampant cases of illegal and unlicensed acts of medical acts and will bring chaos in the medical scene, and in return, the public is expected to suffer,” it added.

The KMA has repeatedly claimed that the act would allow nurses to open medical clinics without physician guidance.

The Assembly also unanimously passed a special bill aimed at supporting victims of a series of housing rental scams that abuse the country's unique lumpsum deposit-based rental system, called "jeonse." The bill allows the victims to lease public housing provided by the state-run Korea Land & Housing Corporation for up to 20 years.

Another bill, dubbed the “Goo Hara Act,” which refers to the K-pop star who died in 2019, was among the bills passed on Wednesday. The bill was first floated with the suggestion of Goo's brother in 2019, following her death, as the singer's mother, accused of being absent for most of her life, inherited a portion of Goo’s wealth after she died. The revision bill aims to prevent parents from accessing a child's wealth, including condolence money for their death, if they had neglected their responsibility to care for the child. The revised law is set to take effect in January 2026.

Wednesday's rare bipartisan support for the bills follows an agreement between the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and the ruling People Power Party earlier this month to tackle bills tied to livelihood issues. The country had suffered from intense legislative gridlock in the months leading up to and following the start of the 22nd Assembly session. There had been a continuous cycle of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea proposing and the opposition-led Assembly passing several contentious bills as the ruling People Power Party boycotted them, with President Yoon Suk Yeol eventually vetoing each piece of legislation. Yoon has so far vetoed a total of 21 bills since his inauguration in May 2022 -- the second-most of any president in South Korea's history.

Meanwhile, the floor leaders of the rival main parties on Wednesday agreed to hold a revote on a set of contentious bills passed by the opposition-led Assembly and recently vetoed by Yoon, on Sept. 26. The bills include the four broadcasting bills, the prolabor "Yellow Envelope Bill" and legislation that stipulates universal cash payments of between 250,000 won and 350,000 won ($182 and $261) to every South Korean citizen for economic relief.

National Assembly Speaker Rep. Woo Won-shik also notified the floor leaders that the opening ceremony for the 22nd Assembly, which had been pushed back multiple times due to tensions between the rival parties, is scheduled to be held on Sept. 2.

However, it was unclear whether Yoon would attend the ceremony, said Park Tae-seo, a senior public affairs secretary of the National Assembly, during a briefing on Wednesday. It is customary for the president to give a speech at the opening ceremony, which is usually held at the beginning of a new legislative term.

By Jung Min-kyung(mkjung@heraldcorp.com)