The National Assembly Rebalances Local Council Seats.. Motion to Dismiss Chung Dong-young Set to Be Discarded

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\r\n[Financial News] The National Assembly on the 28th passed a revision to the Public Official Election Act that adjusts the number of local council members. It also received a report on the motion to dismiss Minister Chung Dong-young, the first such motion under the Lee Jae-myung administration.
At the plenary session that day, lawmakers approved the election law revision. The bill raises the total number of district, city and county council members from 3,003 to 3,006, and increases the number of local council seats in Incheon Metropolitan City from 125 to 128.
The motion to dismiss Minister Chung, submitted as a party bill by the People Power Party, was also reported. It included criticism that he had improperly disclosed information about North Korea's undeclared uranium enrichment facility during a session of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee.
In a floor speech, People Power Party lawmaker Kim Geon, the party's deputy floor leader on the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, said, "Minister Chung's remarks have created foreign policy and security risks, and even the sharing of North Korea-related intelligence between South Korea and the United States has been partially suspended, raising concerns over trust in the alliance and security coordination." He added, "The motion to dismiss is the minimum step needed to uphold the basic principles of national security."
However, the motion is expected to be automatically discarded. Under the National Assembly Act, a motion to dismiss a Cabinet member is scrapped if it is not put to a secret ballot within 72 hours after being reported to the plenary session. The April extraordinary session ends on this day, and the May extraordinary session opens on the 6th of next month, making a vote impossible. For that reason, the People Power Party asked Speaker Woo Won-shik the previous day to convene a plenary session, but the request was not accepted.
People Power Party parliamentary leader Song Eon-seok criticized the Democratic Party of Korea on social networking service (SNS) that day, saying, "What is the ruling party with 160 seats so afraid of that it cannot even hold a vote on the motion to dismiss?" He added, "They could defeat it, or Lee Jae Myung could refuse to dismiss him. How are we supposed to understand the Democratic Party's trick of not even allowing a vote?"
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uknow@fnnews.com Kim Yun-ho Lee Hae-ram Reporter