Rival Parties Hold General Meetings to Discuss Parliamentary Formation; Standoff Over Judiciary Committee Continues

The Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party are each holding general meetings of their lawmakers on June 29 to consolidate their strategies for the formation of the 22nd National Assembly for the second half of its term.

The standoff between the ruling and opposition parties is expected to continue as they remain unable to narrow their differences over which party should take the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, a key post that all bills must pass through after clearing their respective standing committees.

Previously, Democratic Party Floor Leader Han Byung-do met with People Power Party Floor Leader Jeong Jeom-sik on June 26 and drew a line, stating, "They are repeating the same things about the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chair even today," and added, "I have notified the ruling party that we can no longer wait."

The Democratic Party is holding a general meeting of its lawmakers at the National Assembly today while also issuing an emergency standby order to all its members.

This appears to be a move to pressure the People Power Party, with the Democratic Party aiming to finalize the parliamentary formation within this month.

The People Power Party is also holding a general meeting of its lawmakers at the National Assembly this afternoon to share the progress of the negotiations on parliamentary formation and discuss future countermeasures.

Floor Leader Jeong Jeom-sik plans to reiterate the existing position that the People Power Party, as the main opposition party, must secure the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee to keep the government and the ruling party in check.

Furthermore, as he stated yesterday that he "has no intention of begging the ruling party to accept a few more standing committee chair positions," the party is also expected to discuss strategies for parliamentary struggle in the event that the Democratic Party proceeds with the formation of the National Assembly unilaterally.

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