[Anchor]

Negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties for the formation of the second half of the 22nd National Assembly are facing difficulties. The People Power Party maintains that it must reclaim the position of Legislation and Judiciary Committee Chair, while the Democratic Party of Korea insists on finalizing the parliamentary formation today, June 30, to ensure a functioning legislature.

Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

The People Power Party holds the position that the Legislation and Judiciary Committee Chair, among the 18 standing committee chair positions in the National Assembly, must be held by a member of the opposition party.

Claiming that the Democratic Party is engaging in legislative unilateralism and intimidation, the ruling party is effectively refusing to participate in negotiations for the parliamentary formation.

[Jeong Jeom-sik / People Power Party Floor Leader: The People Power Party has only one demand. It is to return the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which has been a venue for extreme conflict between the ruling and opposition parties for the past two years, to normalcy.]

Secretary-General Jeong Hee-yong also pressured the Democratic Party to return the chair position for the sake of checks and balances, noting that about 60% of cases where bills were pushed through by a vote despite objections in the 22nd National Assembly occurred in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

However, the Democratic Party stated that the position of Legislation and Judiciary Committee Chair is not a subject for negotiation, criticizing the People Power Party for holding the process hostage for over a month while knowing this.

[Han Byeong-do / Democratic Party Floor Leader: We can no longer wait for the People Power Party, which ignores the National Assembly Act by refusing to negotiate and failing to submit a list of standing committee members. (The actions of the People Power Party) are nothing more than whining and stubbornness that show the bottom of regressive politics.]

Cheon Jun-ho, Senior Deputy Floor Leader of the Democratic Party, also stated that the People Power Party is engaging in a chilling display of playing the victim, and that they would consider revising the National Assembly Act as a countermeasure against such habitual hostage-taking.

The Democratic Party announced that it would hold a plenary session of the National Assembly this afternoon at 2:00 PM to finalize the parliamentary formation and the confirmation of Prime Minister nominee Han Seong-sook.

While the option of the Democratic Party taking all 18 standing committee chair positions is under review, it is reported that they are considering electing only 11 standing committee chairs proportional to their number of seats first, in consideration of the potential backlash.

(Video reporting: Oh Young-chun, Lee Seung-hwan | Video editing: Oh Young-taek)