The ruling and opposition parties' fight over control of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee is overheating. The Democratic Party of Korea believes its legislative momentum would weaken if the People Power Party takes the committee. The People Power Party, on the other hand, said the parliamentary custom of giving the chair to the No. 2 party should be restored.
According to the political arena on the 19th, the floor leaderships of both parties are negotiating the formation of the second half of the 22nd National Assembly. Floor leader Han Byeong-do of the Democratic Party and floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik of the People Power Party have continued talks on organizing the Assembly since meeting on the 11th under the chairmanship of National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik.
But with the parties failing to narrow differences over the judiciary committee chair, all other formation talks have also ground to a halt. Floor leader Han Byeong-do of the Democratic Party said at the supreme council meeting that day, "The People Power Party's obsession with the judiciary committee is keeping the National Assembly from crossing the threshold to normalization," and added, "The People Power Party is demanding the chair as a precondition for talks, but the judiciary committee is not up for negotiation."
He added, "The public remembers clearly what the National Assembly was like when the People Power Party held the judiciary committee chair. Essential livelihood bills were tied up in the 21st National Assembly's judiciary committee and then scrapped," and said, "The judiciary committee should be a symbol of a working parliament, not a symbol of obstruction."
The People Power Party is stressing parliamentary custom. Typically, the largest party takes the National Assembly speaker post, and the No. 2 party takes the judiciary committee chair. In the first half of the 22nd National Assembly, under the Democratic Party's control of the committee, major bills such as those to establish the Public Prosecution Office and the Serious Crimes Investigation Office passed, and with multiple major bills also slated in the second half, the People Power Party argues it should take the judiciary committee to restore checks and balances within the Assembly.
Kim Seung-soo, senior deputy floor leader for operations of the People Power Party, said at a floor countermeasures meeting that day, "The first half of the 22nd National Assembly was truly judged the worst-ever Assembly, dominated by the Democratic Party with unchecked power," and added, "Not only did they usurp the judiciary committee that the No. 2 party had held, but looking at various moves starting with the forced allocation of standing committees, it really shows a textbook case of parliamentary dictatorship."
The biggest flashpoint for the second half of the 22nd National Assembly's judiciary committee is the "fabricated indictment special counsel bill," which could affect President Lee Jae-myung's trial. The Democratic Party argued that the need to pass the special counsel bill was raised by the earlier parliamentary investigation. Floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik of the People Power Party, by contrast, pressed, saying, "(The Democratic Party) refusing to give up the judiciary committee chair means it intends to ram through the special counsel bill to cancel the indictment."
With the parties clashing head-to-head over the judiciary committee, a deal to divide standing committees appears distant. The Democratic Party says it intends to finish talks with the People Power Party and apportion the committees, but if discussions stall, it could proceed "unilaterally" or even "monopolize" them. A political source said, "Because there is a lot of overlap in the committees the parties want, it looks difficult to reach a deal on the committee allocations."
The field of candidates for the judiciary committee chair has also taken shape around the Democratic Party. The leading contenders are Democratic Party lawmakers Song Ki-heon and Jeon Hyun-hee. Song, a former prosecutor, served as the committee's ranking member in the 20th National Assembly. Jeon served on the judiciary committee in the first half of the 22nd National Assembly. However, Song is also in the running for an economy-related standing committee, and Jeon is a candidate for the Public Administration and Security Committee chair. As a result, lawmaker Jo Seoung-lae, who is serving as secretary-general in the current leadership, is also being mentioned as a candidate for judiciary committee chair.