The Democratic Party (DP) secured 11 standing committee chairs, including the chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, undeterred by the People Power Party's (PPP) boycott. The PPP strongly protested against the DP, which retained the judiciary committee chair into the second half of the term after holding it in the first half, calling it "a move for withdrawing the prosecution of President Lee Jae-myung."
At a National Assembly plenary session held Monday, the DP passed a motion to elect 11 of the total 18 standing committee chairs from among its own lawmakers, including the retention of Seo Young-kyo as judiciary committee chair, along with the Political Affairs Committee (Yoo Dong-soo), the Finance and Economic Planning Committee (Cho Seung-rae), and the House Steering Committee (Han Byung-do). A confirmation motion for Prime Minister nominee Han Sung-sook was also approved, led by the DP and other pro-government parties. The PPP did not participate in the plenary vote in protest against the DP, which forced through the election of committee chairs.
The DP had also considered taking all 18 standing committee chairs, but settled on claiming 11 chairs in proportion to its seat share, taking into account negative public sentiment. Besides the judiciary, political affairs, finance, and steering committees, these include the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee (Song Ki-heon), the National Defense Committee (Jin Sung-joon), the Public Administration and Security Committee (Kim Young-jin), the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee (Lee Jae-jung), the Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee (Kim Jung-ho), the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs and Oceans and Fisheries Committee (Suh Sam-suk), and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts (Lee Kwang-jae). Regarding the seven standing committees designated as the PPP's share, the parties agreed to continue further consultations.
The DP has maintained that it must hold on to the judiciary committee chair to swiftly process livelihood and reform bills, while the PPP has insisted it needs the post to check the ruling party that holds the legislative initiative. The judiciary committee effectively serves as an "upper house" because it handles the review of the structure and wording of all bills that pass each standing committee. It is also the key committee that directly handles the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, including the abolition of supplementary investigation powers that the DP is pursuing as part of prosecution reform, and the special counsel bill on fabricated indictments during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.
DP floor leader Han Byung-do stressed at a general meeting of lawmakers held just before the plenary session that day, "Once the standing committees are settled, we will immediately activate an emergency legislative system." He added, "We must immediately convene each standing committee to finalize the appointment of secretaries and the formation of subcommittees, and enter the legislative battle." The DP plans to push for a revision of the National Assembly Act to prevent delays in bill reviews by standing committees. It will shorten the fast-track review period of up to 330 days and tighten the standards for filibusters (unlimited debate).
The PPP denounced it as "legislative steamrolling" by the giant ruling party and signaled a hardline fight. After Assembly Speaker Cho Jung-sik forcibly assigned PPP lawmakers to the 11 standing committees designated as the DP's share, all the lawmakers submitted resignation notices as committee members.
PPP floor leader Chung Jum-sik criticized the retention of DP lawmaker Seo Young-kyo, the first-half judiciary committee chair, saying it was "a retention that caters to (President Lee Jae-myung's) royal command to pass the special counsel bill on prosecution withdrawal." PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok pointed out on his social networking service (SNS), "The reason the Democratic Party is desperate to take the judiciary committee chair is to achieve the 'cancellation of Lee Jae-myung's trial.'"
