The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, led by the Democratic Party of Korea, has processed the Broadcasting and Communications Law, the Yellow Envelope Law, and the Company Act Amendment. Although the opposition, the People Power Party, strongly protested, the ruling party forced the passage of the bills. These bills are expected to be presented at the National Assembly's plenary session on the 4th. The People Power Party plans to defend using a filibuster (unlimited debate). Tensions are rising in the National Assembly as the ruling party aims to exercise its authority to forcibly end the filibuster.
The Legislation and Judiciary Committee opened a full meeting from the morning of the 1st to vote on the Broadcasting and Communications Law (amendments to the Broadcasting Act, Broadcasting Culture Promotion Account Act, and Korean Educational Broadcasting System Act) and the Yellow Envelope Law (amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Labor Union Act) and the Company Act Amendment. The People Power Party expressed opposition to the bills, but Chairperson Lee Chun-seok, a member of the Democratic Party, pushed the bills through with a show of hands.
◇Ruling party forcefully processes contentious bills without 'opposition debate'
The Broadcasting and Communications Law refers to the Broadcasting Law, Broadcasting Culture Promotion Account Act, and Korean Educational Broadcasting System Act, which primarily focus on restructuring public broadcasters such as KBS, MBC, and EBS. The Yellow Envelope Law expands the scope of users and the targets of labor disputes, and limits corporations' claims for damages. It also allows subcontracted workers to negotiate directly with the primary contractor.
The Company Act Amendment supplements the 'director's duty of loyalty to shareholders' bill that passed on the 3rd of the previous month. It mandates a cumulative voting system for corporations and expands the number of audit committee members to be elected separately from one to two. The business sector has expressed concerns that the Company Act Amendment being pushed by the ruling party could threaten management rights due to foreign capital.
The ruling and opposition parties clashed vigorously during the review of each bill. When Chairperson Lee Chun-seok attempted to vote on the bills without opposition debate, loud voices exchanged between the ruling and opposition commissioners. The People Power Party protested, asking, 'Are we in a communist party?' to which Chairperson Lee warned, 'You may be expelled according to the National Assembly Law.'
Chairperson Lee said, 'There may be feelings of dissatisfaction, but I believe there won't be any problems because we complied with the National Assembly Law procedurally,' adding, 'The longer we have this bill, the greater the possibility that the Legislation and Judiciary Committee will get embroiled in disputes.'
Park Hyung-soo, a member of the legislation committee from the opposition party, noted, 'For democratic legitimacy to arise, discussion must be sufficiently conducted and decisions must be made,' adding, 'We need to prepare mechanisms to defend management rights and carefully consider what impact it may have on the economy.'
◇Opposition party forecasts filibuster… Ruling party anticipates exercise of authority to forcibly end it
The People Power Party is determined to respond vigorously to prevent contentious bills that could stifle corporate activities and media freedom from crossing the threshold of the National Assembly's plenary session. They plan to recruit members for the filibuster in each standing committee and form so-called 'guard units' to prevent the passage of these bills in the July temporary National Assembly.
The People Power Party announced through a member notice that 'when the Company Act, Broadcasting and Communications Law, and the Yellow Envelope Law are presented at the plenary session on the 4th, we will conduct unlimited debate on the five bills.' They added, 'The Company Act and the Yellow Envelope Law will be handled by their respective standing committees, while for the Broadcasting and Communications Law, one member from each main committee must participate in the unlimited debate.'
The Democratic Party has established guidelines to respond to the People Power Party's filibuster. The Democratic Party meets the requirement of having more than two-thirds of the total members to exercise the authority to forcibly end the filibuster. However, this authority can only be exercised 24 hours after the start of the filibuster. The Democratic Party plans to keep all its members within the National Assembly and structure shifts to ensure that at least 30 members are present in the plenary session throughout the six-hour periods.
Through internal guidelines, the Democratic Party announced that it will actively cooperate with real-time internal guidelines, rest and wait in the member's office outside of duty hours, and operate the representatives' situation room. The remaining schedule for the plenary session in the July temporary National Assembly is only for the 4th and 5th.