Talks between the ruling and opposition parties on forming the second half of the 22nd National Assembly are running in parallel over the post of Legislation and Judiciary Committee chair. The Democratic Party of Korea earlier submitted the list of standing committee members requested by National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik. The People Power Party, by contrast, said it would not submit its list of standing committee members because there has been no progress on an agreement over the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
Cheon Jun-ho, senior deputy floor leader for operations of the Democratic Party, and Kim Seung-su, senior deputy floor leader for operations of the People Power Party, met at the National Assembly on the morning of the 24th to discuss forming the second half. But the meeting ended without much gain as the ruling and opposition parties could not narrow differences over the allocation of standing committee chairs.
After the floor leadership meeting, the Democratic Party announced via a notice that "in response to the National Assembly speaker's request to appoint members to standing committees for the second half of the 22nd National Assembly, we submitted the list of standing committee members to the National Assembly Secretariat." Earlier, Speaker Jo on the 22nd said, "We cannot watch this standoff indefinitely," and asked both parties to submit their lists of standing committee members.
Cheon said, "Despite a considerable amount of time having passed, failure to form the second half amounts to a de facto paralysis of the National Assembly," adding, "The National Assembly speaker requested today (the 24th) by noon that both parties submit their lists of lawmakers related to forming the second half, and we plan to submit as scheduled."
Kim said, "With not an inch of progress on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee issue, the very act of the speaker setting a time and demanding submission of the list feels like a biased pressure from the standpoint of the opposition," adding, "The People Power Party also wants the formation of the second half to be wrapped up quickly, but it is practically difficult to submit the list until a forward-leaning agreement emerges from the ruling party, which holds the knife handle, on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee issue."
If talks on forming the second half continue to be delayed, the Democratic Party is also reviewing a plan to unilaterally decide the standing committees. Floor leader Han Byeong-do said at a floor countermeasures meeting the previous day, "We will make a decision, whether to allocate standing committees in proportion to the number of seats or to have the Democratic Party take responsibility for all standing committee chairs."
After the meeting, Cheon also answered a reporter's question asking whether the Democratic Party is considering taking all 18 standing committee chair posts by saying, "We should decide while watching how things proceed."