National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik stepped in to mediate negotiations on forming the latter half of the 22nd National Assembly, but the ruling and opposition parties failed to reach an agreement again. Jo urged the parties on the 17th, Constitution Day, to complete the formation of the Assembly's leadership by then.
The floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties held a closed-door meeting in the speaker's office on the afternoon of the 14th, chaired by Speaker Jo. But the meeting produced no clear agreement.
People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik told reporters right after the meeting, "We held a 2+2 meeting between the ruling and opposition parties chaired by the speaker, but we ultimately feel like we are talking to a wall," adding, "If this is the case, we said they should just change the National Assembly Act to allow the majority party to take all 18 standing committees."
Jeong said, "We also proposed legislating a system starting with the 23rd National Assembly under which, if the first-largest party takes the speakership, the second-largest party would then choose the next standing committee chair, and the parties would select committee chairs in that order." Jeong said the Democratic Party of Korea's acceptance of legislating this method of allocating standing committee chairs could lead the party to drop its demand for the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chair.
Democratic Party floor leader Han Byeong-do also told reporters, "The reason the speaker convened today's meeting was a strong request to finish the formation of the Assembly's leadership by the 17th, Constitution Day," adding, "There was a strong expression of intent that, on Constitution Day, the National Assembly should show the public that it is back to normal."
He added, "We still have not reached an agreement today, and the issues are how to recommend members for the special counsel and how to allocate the standing committees," noting, "We could not narrow our differences on the two issues, and we again failed to reach a final agreement today." Han said of the People Power Party's push to legislate the method of allocating standing committee chairs, "It was something tossed out, not a meaningful discussion or consultation," calling it "a one-sided claim."
Speaker Jo urged the ruling and opposition parties to reach an agreement. Jang Hyeon-ju, senior spokesperson for the speaker's office, told reporters, "Considering the meaning of Constitution Day, the speaker said the Assembly's leadership should be formed before then," adding, "If there is no conclusion before Constitution Day, I think we will have no choice but to weigh next week's plenary schedule."