Starting today, lawmakers are quizzing government officials in parliament until Thursday.
This comes after rival parties recently finalized the formation of the 22nd National Assembly after a month of wrangling.
For more, our political correspondent Shin Ha-young joins us in the studio to give us the overall picture and what’s to come next.
Welcome Ha-young.
Great to be here, Jung-min.
First of all, Ha-young, what does the formation of the new Assembly look like?
Well, Jung-min, after weeks of bipartisan wrangling, rival parties last week finally decided on how to share the leadership positions of standing committees, almost a month after the 22nd National Assembly commenced its four-year term.
For the next two years, the ruling People Power Party will lead seven committees, including Strategy and Finance, where the government’s spending plans are approved.
The majority Democratic Party will head 11 committees such as House Steering, which is in charge of issues related to the president’s office.
It is customary to divide the 18 standing committee chair positions in proportion to the number of seats held by each party.
Then Ha-young, the rival parties have clashed a lot, causing delays in forming standing committees. What is behind the delays and why does it matter so much?
Right, the main reason was the competition for key committee chair posts, which are the judiciary, House Steering, and broadcasting committees.
The PPP called for negotiations to secure the judiciary leadership, claiming that it is crucial for partially preventing the majority DP from pushing through all its bills.
This is because the DP has the authority to review, revise, and even reject bills before they go to a final vote.
In the end, the ruling party accepted the seven other standing committee chair positions proposed by the DP, stating they could no longer delay forming the Assembly due to urgent issues affecting people’s livelihoods.
One thing I’d like to point out here is that despite their conflicts, both parties shared the same priority of focusing on people’s livelihoods in the new Assembly.
Take a listen to what each party had to say.
“We will prioritize passing bills and allocating the budget to address urgent issues regarding people’s livelihood announced on May 31. We will now shift the focus of the National Assembly from political conflicts to taking care of people’s livelihood.”
“Currently, pending issues regarding people’s livelihoods have accumulated across standing committees. Delaying the passage of a special act, which supports the victims of real estate fraud will only worsen public suffering. The DP will push to speed up the passage of the bill.”
The PPP announced its first set of bills in the new Assembly focused on improving people’s livelihoods.
This includes establishing a government body focused on tackling the low birthrate.
It will also push to abolish taxes on financial investments and reform the inheritance tax rate.
The DP introduced what it calls a number one livelihood bill, which if enacted, would provide vouchers worth around 250 thousand Korean won or 180 U.S. dollars to people in Korea.
They say the vouchers will boost spending and help revive the economy.
With the parliament now set to work at full capacity, what are the key legislative tasks for the 22nd National Assembly, and what direction will its operations take?
People are expecting to see what’s being called a “working National Assembly” from the newly-formed parliament, and the Assembly is also making efforts to address the needs of the people.
Meanwhile, according to the Assembly’s bill information, as of Monday a total of 1-thousand-2-hundred-48 bills have been proposed within the month since the start of the Assembly, setting a new record.
However, while eyes are on whether the new Assembly will be more productive, some worry that excessive legislative competition may lead to poorly created bills, resulting in few being passed.
This is because the previous parliament also set records for bills, but actually had the lowest passage rate.
At the 22nd National Assembly, pending issues include tackling the low birthrate, aging population, and national pension reform.
In the previous Assembly, the rival parties launched a special committee for pension reform but were unable to reach a consensus.
Ha-young, could you briefly walk us through some key events from the new parliament?
Sure, as you said, starting today, lawmakers are quizzing government officials during parliamentary Q-and-A sessions.
Today’s session, which got underway earlier, focuses on politics, diplomacy, and security.
After the Q-&-A session, the opposition-led Assembly is planning to vote on a special prosecution investigation into the death of a marine.
In response, the PPP is planning to try to block the bill with a filibuster.
A bill with the same goals was passed in the previous 21st National Assembly but was vetoed by President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The three-day session will bring the June extraordinary session to an end.
Representatives of the two sides will take to the podium next week, following the 22nd National Assembly’s opening ceremony on July 5th.
So we’ll have to keep a close eye on future developments.
Alright, thank you for your report today, Ha-young.
My pleasure.
Source : Arirang TV, https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=272721
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