People Power Party lawmaker Yu Eui-dong [Yonhap]
People Power Party lawmaker Yu Eui-dong [Yonhap]

The People Power Party elected its seven standing committee chairs Thursday, completing the 22nd National Assembly's second-half organizational setup 54 days after the session opened. The opposition returned to the Assembly after both sides reached an agreement on a special prosecutor act for the National Election Commission.

The ruling and opposition parties finalized the lineup at a plenary session Thursday afternoon, filling the chairs of seven committees: the Education Committee, the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, the Industry, Trade, Resources, SMEs and Venture Committee, the Health and Welfare Committee, the Land and Transportation Committee, the Intelligence Committee, and the Gender Equality and Family Committee.

At a PPP general assembly meeting Thursday morning, four-term lawmaker Yu Eui-dong was chosen as the party's candidate for chair of the Land and Transportation Committee. With 97 lawmakers casting ballots, Yu won by a single vote — 49 to 48 — over his rival to secure the nomination.

The party leadership had initially designated Rep. Kim Jeong-jae as its candidate, following the convention that three-term lawmakers serve as committee chairs for two-year stints in both the first and second halves of a parliamentary term. Yu entered the race after having previously been passed over for a committee chairmanship, triggering a primary election under party rules that require a vote when more than one candidate seeks a nomination.

Six three-term lawmakers who ran unopposed were elected by acclamation without a formal vote: Kim Hee-jeong for the Education Committee, Lee Man-hee for the Health and Welfare Committee, Kim Seong-won for the Industry, Trade, Resources, SMEs and Venture Committee, Song Seok-jun for the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Lim Yi-ja for the Gender Equality and Family Committee, and Lee Yang-su for the Intelligence Committee.

Earlier, the Assembly on June 30 elected chairs for 10 standing committees — including the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the Steering Committee and the Public Administration and Security Committee — as well as the chair of the Budget and Accounts Committee, in a process led by the Democratic Party and other pro-government bloc parties.

PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik said the seven committees "will be the seeds of victory in the general election two years from now and of normalizing the Assembly," adding that if lawmakers fight fiercely to check the majority in the 11 committees the party did not secure, "that too will become the foundation for winning the general election in two years."

Jeong acknowledged the constraints facing his party, saying the 22nd Assembly had left little room for the minority to act against the majority's dominance, but urged members to "prepare for the change that will bring the Assembly back to normal — checking and fighting relentlessly, with the spirit of grinding our teeth and enduring hardship."


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