People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik speaks at a general assembly of lawmakers at the National Assembly on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik speaks at a general assembly of lawmakers at the National Assembly on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

The People Power Party held a general assembly of lawmakers Tuesday and agreed to accept the seven remaining standing committee chair posts that the party had unilaterally organized.

Floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik told reporters after the assembly that the party still strongly objects to the Democratic Party of Korea's unilateral takeover of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee — given the range of pending issues in each committee, including amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure — but that it had endorsed a return to the Assembly floor.

Asked whether the party would accept all seven committee chair posts as they stand, with no change in number, Jeong said, "You can think of it that way," adding there would be no change.

With the decision, the People Power Party withdrew its boycott of National Assembly proceedings — launched in protest of the Democratic Party's unilateral election of committee chairs — and will now participate in organizing the second half of the 22nd National Assembly.

The party announced its seven standing committee chair candidates Tuesday: Lee Man-hee for the Health and Welfare Committee, Kim Seong-won for the Industry, Trade, Resources, SMEs and Venture Committee, Kim Hee-jeong for the Education Committee, Lim Yi-ja for the Gender Equality and Family Committee, Lee Yang-su for the Intelligence Committee, Kim Jeong-jae for the Land and Infrastructure Committee, and Song Seok-jun for the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee. The National Assembly is set to elect all seven committee chairs at a plenary session scheduled for Thursday.

The party also endorsed at Tuesday's assembly a special prosecutor bill — targeting a ballot paper shortage at the National Election Commission — that it had agreed on with the Democratic Party. The assembly revealed a subtle divide between the party leader and the floor leader over the agreed-upon bill.

Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok proposed that the two parties agree only on the "procedure" for recommending a special prosecutor, with the scope and targets of the investigation to be discussed further at a later stage.

Jang conveyed concern that without a clearly defined scope of investigation, matters under scrutiny could fall outside the special prosecutor act's coverage and later be rejected by a court. He argued that endorsement of the bill should be deferred in light of those concerns.

However, Jeong pushed back, repeatedly stressing that with nearly two months having passed since the second half of the 22nd National Assembly began, the party must now fight its battles on the floor. He said "we will negotiate further to make that part clearer going forward," after which the agreed-upon special prosecutor bill was endorsed, according to sources.


yeongdai@heraldcorp.com