There is little sign that normal operations will resume in the National Assembly by Speaker Cho Jeong-sik's deadine of Friday, as the main opposition People Power Party continues its boycott of the second half of the 22nd National Assembly.
The key sticking point is the makeup of Assembly committees. Both parties have insisted on chairing the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which is considered one of the most powerful of the 17 standing committees.
The Democratic Party used its majority to elect four-term Democratic Party lawmaker Rep. Seo Young-kyo as chair of the committee last month, in an Assembly vote protested against by the People Power Party.
Seo was one of 11 Democratic Party lawmakers elected as chairs of 10 standing committees and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts.
The Legislation and Judiciary Committee has since begun to review a bill that would strip the prosecution of the power to request supplementary investigations in criminal cases. Seo on Friday promised the process of legislating the bill would be "speedy."
The bill sits at the center of heated political debate in South Korea, alongside another bill that would allow a new special counsel to cancel President Lee Jae Myung's criminal indictments, as part of what appears to be the ruling party's push to weaken the prosecution's power and brand past indictments of liberal politicians as political persecution.
The legal deadline for deciding the makeup of Assembly committees was May 29, but no agreement has been reached amid a protracted standoff.
Cho has pushed for a compromise, setting a deadline of June 24 for committee assignments, but this was not met. He has since set a new deadline of Friday, which is also Constitution Day in South Korea.
Rep. Choi Soo-jin, senior floor spokesperson of the People Power Party, told reporters Friday that a compromise could not be reached by the suggested deadline. Beside demanding to chair the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, his party maintains that the special counsel should be abolished.
The People Power Party faces a dilemma: Giving up on leadership of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, or holding firm and putting its claim on the seven remaining standing committee chair posts at risk.
The Democratic Party has the legislative power to fill the seven remaining posts with its own lawmakers. It last did so in 2020 by voting to give itself all 17 committee chairs, breaking the unwritten rule of assigning committee chairs according to the number of lawmakers each bloc had in the National Assembly.
People Power Party lawmakers are expected to hold a meeting on Monday to decide the future of the parliamentary boycott, but the party is beset by infighting.
A recent rebound in the People Power Party's popularity ratings has evaporated amid weeks of feuding over whether Chair Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok should step down after the party's loss in the June 3 local elections, and whether Jang's archrival, former Chair Rep. Han Dong-hoon, should be allowed to return to the party.
According to a Gallup Korea opinion poll Friday, just 24 percent of respondents approved of the People Power Party's performance for the second week of July.
That was down 2 percentage points from the previous week and 5 points from a month before, as the popularity rating for the People Power Party climbed 7 percentage points to 29 percent in the second week of June.
Defying calls to resign, Jang chose to appear at protests over the botched management of the June 3 elections, including one on Sunday in Busan.
Also, under Jang's leadership, the party is looking to review disciplinary action against politicians who are believed to be seeking Han's return to the party. Han was elected as an independent lawmaker in a parliamentary by-election on June 3.
Jang said on his Facebook Sunday that his resignation or disciplinary actions against "malicious actors" in the party is in the hands of the party members, effectively rejecting calls for resignation from an opposing faction. He added that now is the time to up pressure for a special counsel probe into the ballot shortage scandal and for an election rerun.
Jang's two-year term is set to expire in August 2027.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
