Han Byung-do, acting leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, speaks at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
Han Byung-do, acting leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, speaks at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

The Democratic Party of Korea issued what amounted to an ultimatum to the People Power Party on Wednesday as negotiations over standing committee assignments for the second half of the 22nd National Assembly remained deadlocked. Voices within the PPP calling for a return to the Assembly are also growing louder, adding pressure on the party's leadership.

Han Byung-do, the Democratic Party's acting leader and floor leader, said at a supreme council meeting Wednesday that "even as soaring prices and a volatile exchange rate are squeezing people's livelihoods, the PPP remains fixated on its outdated obstructionism." He added that if the PPP "ultimately refuses to normalize the Assembly, the Democratic Party will have no choice but to make a grave decision to build a working legislature," and demanded the PPP "cooperate immediately on forming the committees."

Floor leaders from both parties met Tuesday afternoon under the mediation of Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik but failed to narrow their differences. Jo urged both parties to "complete the committee formation before Constitution Day," which falls on July 17. Jang Hyeon-ju, the speaker's chief communications officer, said that "if no conclusion on the committee formation is reached before Constitution Day, we will have no choice but to consider scheduling a plenary session next week," while adding that "if the two sides reach an agreement, there is a possibility of holding one as early as Thursday. The legislative schedule will naturally be worked out through consultations."

The PPP leadership has maintained that the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee should go to the largest opposition party. PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik told reporters after the meeting that he was "deeply skeptical about further negotiations, to the point of wondering what the point of continuing them is." He then said he had proposed "legislating a system under which, when the largest floor party holds the speakership, the second-largest party gets first pick of committee chairmanships," adding that "if the Democratic Party agrees to this, we can give up the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chairmanship." Han shrugged off Jeong's proposal as "a unilateral assertion, not something that was deliberated or discussed in advance."

As the standoff drags on, voices within the PPP urging a return to the Assembly to address livelihood issues have been multiplying. One first-term lawmaker said "I think the right move is to accept even the seven committee chairmanships the Democratic Party has offered and get back into the Assembly quickly," adding that "I understand some senior lawmakers are already looking into which committees they want to join."

Rep. Yoo Young-ha also broke publicly with the party leadership on Tuesday, writing on Facebook that "the Legislation and Judiciary Committee chairmanship cannot take priority over the countless livelihood issues now before us. Let's stop pulling the wool over people's eyes."

Yoo said that "predatory private equity funds' greed has brought hundreds of thousands of people to tears" in connection with the Homeplus crisis, yet "not a single person has been held accountable." He called on colleagues to either go all the way — "if you truly want to boycott the Assembly, hand back your seats, go to the plaza and cry out against dictatorship" — or stop the fight altogether. "If you don't have that resolve, let's put an end to this meaningless struggle that exists only in words," he said.


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