National Assembly Deputy Speaker Joo Ho-young of the People Power Party said on the 23rd that he would not accept National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik's request and would not preside over the plenary session, where a filibuster is underway. As the People Power Party launched a filibuster in opposition to the amendment to the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, Speaker Woo asked Joo to "take the chair for a certain period tonight," but the deputy speaker made clear he would refuse.
In a Facebook post the same day, the deputy speaker said, "I cannot cooperate in creating an evil law that the Democratic Party of Korea is pushing, which runs directly counter to democracy." He argued that if Speaker Woo had declared that "bills unilaterally put forward by the Democratic Party are not agreed to by the opposition and therefore cannot be placed on the agenda" and then held floor leader negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties, "today's filibuster would not have happened." He added, "Refusing to preside over the plenary session is the minimum resistance I can make as deputy speaker to protect the National Assembly and democracy in this situation."
The deputy speaker said, "I am sorry that the speaker and (Lee Hak-young) the other deputy speaker are feeling their physical limits," but added, "If one cannot preside due to exhaustion, it would be better to adjourn for a few days and resume later." Regarding the Democratic Party of Korea submitting a resolution urging his resignation over his refusal to preside, he countered, "If you want to request cooperation in presiding, shouldn't you first withdraw this resolution?"
On Speaker Woo's move at the Dec. 9 plenary session to cut off the microphone of People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won, who was in the middle of a filibuster, on grounds that her remarks strayed from the agenda, he said, "I strongly oppose the method of restricting remarks as if the moderator were screening them," adding, "If the speaker is to ask me to preside, there must be clear agreement on this point."
The People Power Party launched a filibuster that day against the amendment to the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection placed on the plenary agenda, with lawmaker Choi Soo-jin going first. Before introducing the amendment, Speaker Woo expressed regret over Deputy Speaker Joo's refusal to preside and asked him to take the chair from 11 p.m. that day to 6 a.m. on the 24th.