The ruling and opposition parties plan to hold a meeting on the 6th to discuss pressing issues, including the preparation of the supplementary budget. As the ruling and opposition parties' consultative council remains at a standstill regarding the decision to postpone the nomination of Constitutional Court justice candidate Ma Eun-hyeok by Acting President and Minister of Strategy and Finance Choi Sang-mok, they decided to hold a meeting without the government, first. They also agreed to form a National Assembly special committee on pension reform.
Kweon Seong-dong, the ruling party's floor leader, and Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, met with reporters after a 2+2 (floor leaders and senior deputy floor leaders) meeting chaired by National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik on the afternoon of the same day to announce that they had reached this agreement, according to the senior deputy floor leaders Park Hyung-soo of the ruling party and Park Seong-jun of the Democratic Party.
Park Seong-jun, the senior deputy floor leader, noted that "the fact that the acting president is not appointing Ma Eun-hyeok as a constitutional court justice and is essentially rejecting the decision of the Constitutional Court is ignoring the Constitution," and he stated, "It is not appropriate to sit down for negotiations with someone like the acting president."
He further explained, "Since we must continue to push for reforms related to people's livelihoods, we agreed to quickly convene a consultative meeting of the ruling and opposition party floor leaders, the chairpersons of the policy committees, and the senior deputy floor leaders, along with the Speaker."
Park Hyung-soo, the senior deputy floor leader, stated, "Our party's basic position is to persuade the Democratic Party to join us, but the Democratic Party continues to argue that we cannot engage unless the acting president appoints Justice Ma. Therefore, the Speaker commented, 'We cannot just abandon people's livelihoods,' and suggested that the ruling and opposition parties meet to discuss this."
Previously, on the 20th of last month, the National Assembly's consultative council held its first meeting. Although the acting president, Speaker Woo, Kweon Young-se, the chairman of the emergency response committee of the ruling party, and Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, came together, they could not reach a practical agreement. At the subsequent second meeting, it was decided to discuss ▲the supplementary budget ▲the formation of the National Assembly special committee on pensions and the special committee on climate ▲the semiconductor special law.
Consequently, a second National Assembly consultative council meeting was scheduled for the 28th of last month, but discussions stalled when the Democratic Party notified that it would not attend. Even after the ruling by the Constitutional Court regarding the authority dispute over the postponement of the candidate for justice Ma, the acting president did not appoint him and also notified non-attendance. Although the Democratic Party reaffirmed this position during the meeting, both parties agreed to discuss without the government to focus on recovering livelihoods.
At the meeting on the 6th, they are expected to discuss pressing issues such as the supplementary budget, pension reform, and the semiconductor special law, including the ‘exemption for high-income workers from the 52-hour workweek’ which gained consensus in the first consultative meeting. The ruling party proposes to compromise on all three contentious agendas at once, whereas the Democratic Party insists on discussing only the parts that can be agreed upon first.
Park Hyung-soo, the senior deputy floor leader, stated, "We agreed to meet on the 6th to primarily discuss the semiconductor special law, pension reform, and the supplementary budget," adding, "The amendment to the Commercial Act is already on the agenda of the plenary session, so it was not discussed." He continued, "The basic position of the ruling party is that all three (the supplementary budget, pension reform, and the semiconductor special law) should be discussed together, looking to find compromise points at the same table."
Park Seong-jun, the senior deputy floor leader, mentioned, "The Democratic Party's stance is to promptly execute those parts that can be practically implemented," emphasizing that the ruling and opposition parties agree that the supplementary budget should be prioritized for the recovery of livelihoods. Since the semiconductor special law support area was identified first, the proposal was to make that decision and address contentious issues later, which made it difficult to find a compromise point even today. They plan to establish a certain direction in their meeting on the 6th.
The schedule for the plenary session this month was agreed upon for the 13th, 20th, and 27th.
The formation of three special committees in the National Assembly has also tentatively been agreed upon. The special committee on pensions, which will discuss pension reform, is set to have commissioners from the ruling party and the Democratic Party, along with the non-cooperative party, in a 6 to 6 to 1 ratio. The National Assembly's climate special committee will consist of 11 to 7 to 2 commissioners, while the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) special committee aimed at supporting the APEC meeting in October this year will have a formation of 10 to 7 to 1. The ruling and opposition parties plan to address the formation of the three special committees in the plenary session on the 13th.
However, the National Assembly's ethics committee failed to reach an agreement on the composition of commissioners. The ruling party proposed that the first and second parties be composed equally as in the 21st National Assembly, but the Democratic Party insisted that it should be composed according to the number of seats.