Before handling the Government Organization Act amendment, the Democratic Party of Korea decided to change only the names of National Assembly standing committees. A plan to delay the implementation of some ministries' reorganizations to Jan. of next year to reduce confusion in this year's parliamentary audit and settlement of account review was mentioned but fell through. Instead, the idea is to minimize confusion through standing committee resignations and replacements.
On the 23rd, after a floor countermeasures meeting, Democratic Party spokesperson for the floor Moon Geum-ju met with reporters and said, "Adjusting the fixed number of standing committee seats requires bipartisan agreement, so it is difficult to handle this time," adding, "There was consensus to change only the names." Under the change plan, the Environment and Labor Committee would become the "Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee," the Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee would become the "Broadcasting, Media and Communications Committee," the Gender Equality and Family Committee would become the "Gender Equality and Family Committee," and the Strategy and Finance Committee would reportedly be reorganized into the "Finance and Economy Committee."
The Democratic Party plans to handle the Government Organization Act amendment at the plenary session on the 25th. The amendment includes establishing the Serious Crimes Investigation Office and the Prosecution Office with the principle of separating the prosecution's investigation and indictment functions, splitting the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and creating the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment. The dismantling of the Prosecutors' Office is slated for next September, and the reorganization of finance-related ministries will take effect in Jan. of next year, but expansions such as transferring the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's energy policy function to the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment are scheduled to take effect in Oct., immediately after the law is promulgated.
As a result, there are concerns that confusion will be unavoidable in the parliamentary audit scheduled for mid-next month and in the settlement of account review. This is because, with the adjustment of ministry functions, the standing committees overseeing subordinate public institutions will also change. For example, if the energy policy function is transferred to the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, power public corporations such as Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and Korea Electric Power Corporation should move from the Trade. Industry Energy. SMEs. and Startups Committee to the Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee, but the audit will inevitably proceed without the legal basis being in place. There are also concerns that the settlement of account review, conducted on a fiscal year basis, will inevitably see confusion if the reorganization is carried out within the year.
Without an amendment to the National Assembly Act, it is impossible to adjust the number of standing committee seats or change their scope of duties. However, with partisan conflict escalating to the extreme following the recent rollback of the special prosecutor bill agreement by the ruling party, agreement is widely seen as effectively out of reach.
The Democratic Party's policy is to push the adjustment of standing committee seats to the timing of forming the latter half of the National Assembly next year. A key Democratic Party official said, "Adjusting the fixed number can only be done on the premise of bipartisan agreement," adding, "It will have to be discussed when forming the latter half next year."
Within the party, as a stopgap measure for this year's parliamentary audit, a plan to carry out standing committee resignations and replacements is being discussed. Resignation and replacement (辭·補任) is the procedure for replacing lawmakers from the party who serve on National Assembly standing committees. A Democratic Party lawmaker on the industry committee said, "If adjusting the fixed number is difficult, we will have no choice but to proceed by confirming lawmakers' needs after handling the Government Organization Act amendment and then resigning and replacing members."