The National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee attempted to resume operations after 90 days of virtual shutdown since December last year, but the effort ultimately failed, sources confirmed.
According to political sources on Thursday, the committee recently canceled its government briefing and legislation subcommittee sessions scheduled for March 3-6. The committee last convened on December 4 last year and had planned to hold its first meeting of the year to review pending bills, but that plan fell through.
A Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker on the committee said, "We planned to summon SMEs Minister Han Sung-sook and Vice Industry Minister Moon Shin-hak to question them on current issues and process pending legislation, but this was unilaterally canceled by the People Power Party." The lawmaker added that "schedule coordination is ongoing, but the situation is difficult."
As a result, discussions on major industrial and energy legislation have ground to a halt. The committee had originally planned to question the government on U.S. investment trends and retail industry restructuring.
Bills pending before the committee—including the Renewable Energy Self-Sufficient City Act containing investment incentives and the Corporate Vitality Act with support measures for petrochemical sector restructuring—have been kept off the discussion table. Critics say industrial policy overall has become hostage to political conflict as ruling and opposition parties clash over reform legislation and the administrative integration special act.
The Democratic Party is strongly criticizing the reasons behind the committee's paralysis. The party pointed to low meeting frequency in standing committees chaired by People Power Party members and signaled it may fundamentally review overall parliamentary operations. Beyond the Trade Committee, the party cited the Defense Committee, which has not met for over 100 days, and the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, idle for about 50 days, as "non-working committees," suggesting possible reorganization of the standing committee system.
Democratic Party Floor Leader Han Byung-do criticized, "They are ignoring matters affecting the national economy and people's livelihoods simply because they dislike the legislation being pursued." He added, "If they insist on a non-working parliament while holding citizens' lives hostage, standing committee chairmanships are nothing but power-sharing privileges."
The People Power Party maintains its position is a response to the Democratic Party's legislative steamrolling. Despite People Power Party filibusters, the Democratic Party passed nine bills during the February extraordinary session, including a third Commercial Act revision mandating treasury stock cancellation, three judicial reform bills covering judicial distortion crimes, constitutional appeals, and Supreme Court justice expansion, the Gwangju-South Jeolla administrative integration special act, and Local Autonomy Act revisions. However, the People Power Party has not officially adopted a standing committee boycott as party policy.
Concerns are growing that prolonged paralysis of the Trade Committee amid the ongoing standoff between ruling and opposition parties could further delay corporate support and structural reform discussions.