The Land and Transport Committee is the panel lawmakers-elect would most like to join, while Defense is the least favorite, a recent survey showed.
Among the 300 lawmakers-elect for the 20th National Assembly, 53 of them, or 17.7 percent, chose the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee as the favorite to join, according to a survey conducted by Yonhap News Agency. They included 30 ruling Saenuri Party members, 22 from The Minjoo Party of Korea and one from People’s Party. The committee is currently comprises 31 members, including the chairperson.
Next in line was the Education, Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee with 37 wanting to join. Other popular committees were the Industry, Trade and Energy, National Policy, Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries and Strategy and Finance committees.
The land and transport committee overseas the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry, Korea Land and Housing Corporation and Korea Transportation Safety Authority, among others in charge of various social overhead capital projects directly linked to regional developments.
The National Assembly (Yonhap)
Each standing committee is responsible for reviewing submitted bills and helping the plenary session vote on them. There are a total of 16. Each committee member also has the discretion to draw up relevant bills. Members of each committee are distributed based on the ratio of lawmakers belonging to each negotiation bloc. Representatives of each negotiating bloc recommend candidates.
In the upcoming Assembly, the first plenary session is slated to be held on June 7, when the lawmakers will elect the Assembly speaker and vice speakers. Chairpersons for each committee are scheduled to be elected by June 9. Rosters of lawmakers for each committee will take shape in May upon the election of floor leaders of each party.
The least popular, on the other hand, was the Defense Committee, with only three listing the committee as their first choice. Two were former military men while the other was a journalist with defense expertise. Other unpopular committees were environment and labor and administration.
Senior lawmakers-elect having served multiple terms, meanwhile, showed the tendency to pick less popular committees as their preference, citing giving more opportunities for their younger members.
The Saenuri Party’s Rep. Suh Chung-won, who will be serving his eighth term, along with Rep. Lee Ju-young and Rep. Chung Woo-taik, respectively entering their fifth and fourth term, for instance, chose the Foreign Affairs Committee as their first choice.
Competition among the parties is high to secure the chairperson’s seat for the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which serves as the powerful last stop for bills before they are presented for a plenary vote. The main opposition party member customarily takes on the job, but the Saenuri Party, which lost majority status and is now one seat behind the Minjoo Party, is reportedly set on taking the post.
(
khnews@heraldcorp.com)