As the Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party failed to reach an agreement by noon on the 26th on forming the leadership of the latter half of the 22nd National Assembly, the speaker's office sent the same list of standing committee members as in the first half to the People Power Party and extended the deadline to noon on the 29th. The People Power Party is strongly protesting, calling it a "unilateral notification of the list."
The ruling and opposition parties continued negotiations on forming the leadership through the 26th, but as they failed to narrow differences over how to allocate standing committee chairs, including the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chair, the speaker's office began procedures to form some standing committees. Jang Hyeon-ju, senior public relations secretary of the National Assembly, said, "In the speaker's name, we sent an official letter to the People Power Party with a list of members appointed at discretion," and added, "We requested that they submit their views by noon on the 29th."
This is a measure based on the National Assembly Act, which allows the speaker to proceed with appointing Commissioners if a negotiating bloc fails to submit a list by the deadline.
However, the list notified to the People Power Party this time is said to reflect only some of the lawmakers newly elected in by-elections and, overall, to be effectively identical to the first-half lineup of the 22nd National Assembly's standing committees. Regarding the criteria for drawing up the list, Chief Spokesperson Jang said, "It is difficult to disclose specifics," but explained, "It was processed in accordance with Articles 48 and 45 of the National Assembly Act."
In response, People Power Party Floor Leader Jeong Jeom-sik strongly objected. Jeong said of the list sent by the speaker's office, "It is virtually identical to the first-half standing committee list, and only the newly elected lawmakers were partially sorted."
Jeong added, "This is truly lamentable. Is this the National Assembly?" and said, "Can the speaker of the Republic of Korea's National Assembly do this?" He continued, "They set a deadline to pressure us to submit a list, and when we did not comply, they drafted the first-half list as is and notified us by fax," adding, "This is an attempt to ignore the minority party and run the National Assembly unilaterally."
Jeong also took aim at the Democratic Party and President Lee Jae-myung, saying, "There was no will to negotiate from the start," and, "They only repeated the position that the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee was off-limits." He further escalated, saying, "President Lee Jae-myung's remark that the local election results were a warning from the people to this administration was crocodile tears," and, "The claim that the ruling party should be more inclusive and open was all lies."
The two parties are scheduled to each hold a general meeting of lawmakers on the 29th to discuss their response.