"The lawmaker's badge is being treated as a symbol of privilege and minister-level perks rather than as a symbol of responsibility and service."
In June 2016, Baek Jae-hyun, then chairman of the National Assembly Ethics Special Committee, made this argument while announcing plans to push for the abolition of the gold lawmaker's badge and the enactment of an ethics practice law for National Assembly members. The reform measures came as allegations of election campaign rebates and problems over the hiring of family members as aides erupted one after another across both ruling and opposition parties shortly after the 20th National Assembly opened. But the initiative eventually fizzled out.
The gold badge is, literally, a badge made of gold. In Korea, however, the word symbolizes the power, authority and status of a National Assembly member. Lawmakers began wearing gold badges from the 2nd National Assembly in 1950. Through the 10th National Assembly, the badges were made of pure gold, but following repeated criticism that this amounted to excessive privilege, the design was changed from the 11th National Assembly to its current form. Measuring 1.6 centimeters in diameter and weighing 6 grams, it is now made of 99% pure silver plated with gold.
Lawmaker badges are a political culture unique to Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Japan first introduced the gold badge during the Imperial Diet in 1890. Recently, Japanese local assemblies have been replacing the gold decorations on their members' badges with silver or plating to reduce costs stemming from rising gold prices. Ahead of next year's local elections, 11 prefectural assemblies including Nara and Fukuoka have confirmed such plans. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, overcoming resistance within her party, is accelerating political reform to cut the number of House of Representatives seats from 465 to 420. She is also pushing to reduce the salaries of the prime minister and cabinet ministers.
Korean politics, by contrast, appears to be moving backward. The Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party recently passed revisions to political relations laws that increase the number of proportional representation seats in metropolitan councils and effectively revive local party chapters for the first time in 22 years, without going through a proper public consultation process. What lawmakers must do now is to first give up the various privileges that fall short of public expectations, including immunity from arrest, exemption from liability for speech, multi-hundred-million-won annual salaries and special activity funds. Rather than merely paying lip service, the National Assembly must reinvent itself as a body that works as true public servants. The gold badge weighs only 6 grams, but the responsibility it carries is by no means light. True political reform begins with setting aside outdated privileges and bearing the weight of the gold badge.
