The People Power Party reiterated that it will not cooperate with forming the power structure for the latter half of the 22nd National Assembly.
On the afternoon of the 2nd, the People Power Party held a general meeting of lawmakers for two hours at the National Assembly main building with its members in attendance. After the Democratic Party of Korea unilaterally elected 11 standing committee chairs on June 30, forcing the formation of the power structure, it was a session to gather lawmakers' views on how to respond.
In his opening remarks at the general meeting, Floor Leader Jeong Jeom-sik said, "It is a problem in itself that the Democratic Party, which is both the majority party in the National Assembly and the ruling party, ignores precedent and monopolizes the National Assembly speaker and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chair, but the fundamental problem is the dictatorial behavior of ignoring and disrespecting minority opposition parties, deciding among themselves, and handling matters unilaterally in the process," adding, "They only say they respect President Kim Dae-jung, but the party that has completely betrayed the Kim Dae-jung spirit is today's Democratic Party."
At the closed-door general meeting that followed, criticism focused on the Democratic Party's push to force the formation of the power structure. After the meeting, Floor Leader Jeong told reporters, "In this state, we cannot cooperate with forming the power structure, and we have no choice but to move forward with a stronger fight," adding, "Our party cannot agree to the Democratic Party's first-stage formation, in which it unilaterally took 11 standing committee chairs, including the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chair, and we have no intention of cooperating with forming the power structure going forward."
Senior Deputy Floor Leader Kim Seung-soo said in a briefing with reporters, "There was no opinion that we should accept seven standing committee chairs," adding, "Most said we should show a tougher opposition fight even if it means going through more hardship."
That afternoon in political circles, a post circulated claiming the People Power Party had been allotted seven standing committee chairs. The post even listed the names of the seven standing committee chairs in detail.
Regarding the post, Senior Deputy Floor Leader Kim said, "It is completely untrue, and I suspect it is a ploy to sow discord within our party," adding, "Unless there is a special change in circumstances for the Democratic Party, we have no intention whatsoever of cooperating with the operation of the standing committees." He said, "There was an opinion that 'if the Democratic Party promises not to handle the special counsel bill to dismiss the indictment in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, we could concede the committee,' but as of now, absent a special change in circumstances for the Democratic Party, our party has no intention at all of cooperating with the operation of standing committees run independently by the Democratic Party."
Senior Deputy Floor Leader Kim said, "On the allocation of standing committees, many first-term members voiced that we should fight strongly with no exit strategy," adding, "There was also an opinion that the special counsel into the National Election Commission issue should be conducted under the lead of the opposition."
A first-term lawmaker who attended the general meeting said, "Whether it is a fight against the administration or a boycott, there were calls to take arguments that can persuade the public," adding, "We need to explain to the public why the Democratic Party is calling for dismissal of the indictment."