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Speaker rejects Saenuri from passing parliament advancement law

Speaker rejects Saenuri from passing parliament advancement law

Posted January. 22, 2016 08:11,   

Updated January. 22, 2016 08:31

한국어
The ruling Saenuri Party’s attempt to solely pass the revision of National Assembly Advancement Law has faced with another obstacle of National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa.

“It (Saenuri Party’s attempt) is not one of the options,” Chung said at a press conference held at the National Assembly on Thursday. “For 67 years of constitutional history, Korea has never passed the law on National Assembly’s management by a single party.” It means that the revised bill would not be put to a vote even though the ruling party would bring it to the plenary session. The Saenuri Party’s plan to pass the revision by itself and to raise the negotiating power against the opposition party has come to nothing.

“National Assembly Advancement Law is a bad law and it should be revised before the 19th session finishes,” said the speaker. “The abuse of the authority would intensify the conflict between ruling and opposition parties, incapacitating the power of the National Assembly Standing Committee. The successful surgery (revision of the Law) could still kill the patient (the National Assembly).”

The revision for the National Assembly Advancement Law that he explained on the day has two directions. First is to revise the requirement for passing fast-track legislation from the current 60 percent rule to the majority rule while the second is to prevent Legislation and Judiciary Committee from holding bills. As the head position of the committee has traditionally been taken by lawmakers from the opposition party, it remains to be seen if the opposition party would give up its strongest advantage of “60 percent rule” and “the power that comes with the committee.” All this means that the Advancement Law, which failed to pass at the 19th National Assembly, could hinder the 20th National Assembly, too.

The Saenuri Party has expressed its complaints against Chung. “This is not the time for the parliament speaker to put his political future first. The decision should be made in consideration of Korean people,” Saenuri's floor leader Won Yoo-chul said. “His comment is disappointing as there are many seniors whose political career is longer than Chung,” supreme member Seo Chung-won said. Chung has been elected as lawmaker for five times now, while Seo is a 7-time lawmaker.



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