The ruling Saenuri Party announced Wednesday that it would forgo its bid to hold the post of the National Assembly’s speaker, boosting hopes for a breakthrough in the deadlock over the formation of the new parliament.

The Saenuri Party’s floor leader Rep. Chung Jin-suk said that his party has decided to “yield” on the speaker seat and offer it to the main opposition party. The Saenuri party had previously insisted that it is “customary” for the ruling party to keep the top job in the Assembly.

“In order to make a breakthrough in the negotiation to form the Assembly, We decided to yield on the seat for the speaker,” Chung told reporters. “We hope that our decision will get the Assembly up and running and take care of the people’s livelihood,” he said.
But the floor leader refused to back down on other key parliamentary positions. He noted that his party members should take over the top seats in the committees of house steering as well as legislation and judiciary. The latter was chaired by the main opposition party’s lawmaker in the previous Assembly.

The Saenuri Party’s turnaround comes on the heels of Rep. Suh Chung-won’s last-minute decision to quit the race for the speaker’s seat. The eight-term lawmaker was viewed as the party’s front-runner for the seat that is usually taken by the most senior lawmaker.

In a speech on Wednesday morning, Seo announced that he would leave the contest and urged his party to “give away” the speakership to the opposition party that now holds the largest number of parliamentary seats. The 73-year-old politician is the longest-serving incumbent lawmaker in the 20th Assembly.

The opposition bloc welcomed the Saenuri’s proposal.

“We celebrate the Saenuri Party’s decision to accept the people’s demand, albeit belatedly,” The Minjoo Party of Korea’s spokesperson Lee Jae-jung said in a statement, reiterating their position that the biggest party should claim the top lawmaker’s post.

Echoing the announcement, the centrist and third-largest People’s Party went so far as to praise Saenuri lawmaker Suh, calling him a “politician with strong faith in the legislative branch.”

The two opposition parties, however, appeared to differ over whether to accept the Saenuri Party’s demand on the chairpersons’ allocation of key parliamentary committees. While they have agreed to maintain the 18 standing committees, they have not agreed on who will head each one.

Last month, the three parties’ floor leaders agreed that the Saenuri Party and the Minjoo Party should take the post of chairpersons in eight of the committees each, while the lawmaker from the People’s Party should chair the two other committees.

People’s Party floor leader Rep. Park Jie-won said on Wednesday that the Saenuri Party can put their lawmakers in the chief posts for the house steering and legislation committees, but the Minjoo Party did not immediately respond.

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)