Han Byung-do, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, warned on the 25th that the party would "seriously consider revisiting the standing committee chair distribution from scratch" if the People Power Party continues to obstruct parliamentary proceedings.
"Using committee chairmanships held by the opposition as tools to deliberately oppose and boycott National Assembly schedules is an abuse of the authority granted by the people," Han said at the party's Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly. "We will no longer tolerate the abuse of chairmanship powers to paralyze the National Assembly."
The warning is interpreted as a threat that the Democratic Party could forcibly take over chairmanships of key standing committees, including the Finance and Economy Committee and the Political Affairs Committee, following its acquisition of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chair—traditionally considered an opposition seat—through last year's negotiations.
Han strongly criticized the People Power Party's filibuster tactics. "The People Power Party has filed filibusters on all eight proposed bills and is wasting precious time for people's livelihoods in the plenary session even as we speak," he said. "The more time spent on obstinance and sophistry, the more public trust hits rock bottom."
He continued, "Stop this treasonous act of making the nation's future a sacrifice to political strife. Yesterday, they even reversed their position to oppose the Daegu-North Gyeongsang integration—I want to ask whether they have any conviction or philosophy on balanced regional development."
Han also criticized the Special Committee on U.S. Investment, which ended in disruption for the second consecutive meeting. "They have turned even a special committee directly tied to national interests into political fodder," he said.
Regarding the ongoing filibuster against the third Commercial Act revision, Han stated, "They are blocking livelihood reform legislation that would lead the era of KOSPI 6,000 and 7,000." He added, "We will end the filibuster through an afternoon vote and pass the bill. We will march forward looking only at the people."