Han Byung-do: "The People Power Party's obsession with the Legislation and Judiciary Committee is dragging things out... We will not be led around"

[The Financial News] Han Byung-do, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 19th that the People Power Party was "unable to clear the hurdle of normalizing the National Assembly because of its obsession with the Legislation and Judiciary Committee" and added, "We will not be led around by endless stalling."
At the Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly that day, Han said, "We have already made clear several times that the Legislation and Judiciary Committee is not a subject for negotiation."
He then pointed to the fact that the Yellow Envelope Act, the Broadcasting Act and the Agricultural Products Management Act were all scrapped when Rep. Kim Do-eup chaired the committee in the second half of the 21st National Assembly. He argued that if the People Power Party, which he said had turned the committee into a "graveyard for livelihood bills," takes control of it again, it would become not a check and balance but another graveyard for legislation.
He also took aim at the People Power Party's claim that it could not give up the committee chairmanship in order to block the ruling party's push for a special counsel bill on alleged fabricated indictments. "Using the Legislation and Judiciary Committee as a tool for political strife means giving up on people's livelihoods," he said, urging the party to "stop being trapped by partisan interests and negotiate in good faith."
The Democratic Party of Korea had originally planned to complete negotiations with the People Power Party on the composition of the second half of the 22nd National Assembly by the 18th, but talks have been bogged down over the allocation of the committee chairmanship, which serves as a gateway for legislation. The Democratic Party says it cannot yield the committee as the ruling party because it needs to support state policy goals through legislation. The People Power Party, meanwhile, argues that the main opposition party should chair the committee, as has been customary, to check the ruling party's legislative dominance.
jiwon.song@fnnews.com Song Ji-won Reporter