The Democratic Party of Korea will single-handedly elect Chairpersons for 11 standing committees, including The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, in the latter half of the 22nd National Assembly. With the ruling and opposition parties locked in a standoff over the Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the ruling party ultimately decided to push ahead with forming 11 standing committees on the last day of June on its own.
Kim Han-kyu, the Democratic Party floor policy senior deputy chief, said on the 30th afternoon that "we finalized 11 standing committees and sent them to the speaker's office." The plenary session schedule to elect standing committee Chairpersons was pushed back from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Seo Young-kyo will take the Chairperson post of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which the ruling and opposition parties clashed over. Cheon Joon-ho, the Democratic Party floor operations senior deputy chief, told reporters, "For the final three months of the first half, the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee was carried out, and we judged it would be better to maintain temporary continuity of duty and proceed consistently until major reform tasks, including prosecutorial reform, are completed."
The Democratic Party finalized the Chairpersons of 11 standing committees, including the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. The National Policy Committee will be chaired by Rep. Yoo Dong-soo; the Strategy and Finance Committee by Rep. Jo Seoung-lae; the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee by Rep. Song Ki-heon; the National Defense Committee by Rep. Jin Sung-joon; the Public Administration and Security Committee by Rep. Kim Young-jin; the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee by Rep. Lee Jae-jung; the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee by Rep. Seo Sam-seok; the Environment and Labor Committee by Rep. Kim Jeong-ho; the House Steering Committee by Rep. Han Byeong-do; and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts by Rep. Lee Kwang-jae.
Senior Deputy Chief Cheon Joon-ho explained, "Based on the seat ratio, we divided them 11 to 7, and we selected them centering on the committees we felt were necessary to push forward state affairs," adding, "Traditionally, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee and the Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee are highly preferred, and we gave priority in allocating these Chairpersons to the opposition party."
Although the Democratic Party said it showed consideration for the opposition in allocating standing committees, the People Power Party maintains it cannot give up the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. There is also talk of rejecting the seven standing committee Chairperson posts allocated by the Democratic Party. The People Power Party plans to hold a general meeting of lawmakers around 7 p.m. today to discuss how to respond to the ruling party's unilateral election of standing committee Chairpersons.