Parties should hasten negotiations to normalize legislature
The first half of the 21st session of the National Assembly ended May 29. But the Assembly for the latter half of the four-year term is still dysfunctional as the ruling and opposition parties are at loggerheads over which party will take over the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
Under the National Assembly Act, the speaker and vice speaker posts must be filled at least five days before the term of the speaker of the first half expires. And the standing committee chairpersons should be elected before the day their two-year term ends. It is pitiful to see the law-making Assembly break the law.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) should get most of the blame for the stand-off over the legislation committee chairmanship. Following a sweeping victory in the 2020 legislative elections, the DPK took both the speaker and the legislation committee chair posts, breaking the long-held custom of dividing them up.
After being faced with harsh criticism over its "despotic" parliamentary operation, the liberal party agreed last July with the then-main opposition People Power Party (PPP) to hand over the chairmanship, which plays an important role of processing various bills in the unicameral legislature. But the DPK is moving to undo the agreement, alleging that the chairmanship must rest with the opposition. It's a shame that the DPK is doing a flip-flop on its promise and repeatedly making far-fetched arguments.
The dysfunctional Assembly is causing serious problems. To begin with, it is still unclear when the relevant committees will hold confirmation hearings for the education and health minister nominees needed to finalize the inaugural Cabinet of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. Yoon might have to appoint them even without hearings. What's certain is that the parties should stop repeating the evil practice of passing time aimlessly without forming committees whenever the Assembly begins a new term. They should take a step back and hasten negotiations to normalize the legislature.
The first half of the 21st session of the National Assembly ended May 29. But the Assembly for the latter half of the four-year term is still dysfunctional as the ruling and opposition parties are at loggerheads over which party will take over the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
Under the National Assembly Act, the speaker and vice speaker posts must be filled at least five days before the term of the speaker of the first half expires. And the standing committee chairpersons should be elected before the day their two-year term ends. It is pitiful to see the law-making Assembly break the law.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) should get most of the blame for the stand-off over the legislation committee chairmanship. Following a sweeping victory in the 2020 legislative elections, the DPK took both the speaker and the legislation committee chair posts, breaking the long-held custom of dividing them up.
After being faced with harsh criticism over its "despotic" parliamentary operation, the liberal party agreed last July with the then-main opposition People Power Party (PPP) to hand over the chairmanship, which plays an important role of processing various bills in the unicameral legislature. But the DPK is moving to undo the agreement, alleging that the chairmanship must rest with the opposition. It's a shame that the DPK is doing a flip-flop on its promise and repeatedly making far-fetched arguments.
The dysfunctional Assembly is causing serious problems. To begin with, it is still unclear when the relevant committees will hold confirmation hearings for the education and health minister nominees needed to finalize the inaugural Cabinet of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. Yoon might have to appoint them even without hearings. What's certain is that the parties should stop repeating the evil practice of passing time aimlessly without forming committees whenever the Assembly begins a new term. They should take a step back and hasten negotiations to normalize the legislature.
![[INTERVIEW] SpaceX's Starlink in Kyiv is wake-up call for Seoul](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/dc6a1a7c92114ec298cef2e3b8e04989.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
