Han Byung-do, acting leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and fellow lawmakers chant slogans on the steps of Rotunda Hall at the National Assembly on Thursday, ahead of a plenary session, during a rally denouncing the People Power Party for obstructing livelihood legislation. [Yonhap]
Han Byung-do, acting leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and fellow lawmakers chant slogans on the steps of Rotunda Hall at the National Assembly on Thursday, ahead of a plenary session, during a rally denouncing the People Power Party for obstructing livelihood legislation. [Yonhap]

The Democratic Party of Korea held a denunciation rally at Rotunda Hall on Thursday, just before a plenary session of the National Assembly, sharply accusing the People Power Party of blocking livelihood bills.

Han Byung-do, the Democratic Party's acting leader and floor leader, demanded that the People Power Party "immediately stop refusing to process agenda items without justification." He said he could not understand what the political standoff between the parties had to do with livelihood legislation. "This is shameless obstruction of the legislative process," he said.

Han said the People Power Party was "turning a deaf ear to the desperate voices of the people and abandoning the National Assembly's core duty," calling it "a clear dereliction of responsibility." He strongly condemned what he described as the party's "unconscionable conduct in paralyzing the Assembly by holding people's livelihoods hostage."

"Fifty-nine livelihood bills directly tied to people's daily lives — including amendments to the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment, the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Building Act — are sitting idle in the plenary session," Han said. He noted that all bills referred to the full Assembly had already cleared their respective standing committees and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

Han also questioned what authority the People Power Party's floor leadership had to pick and choose which bills to bring to a plenary vote. "The People Power Party is undermining the review procedures set by the National Assembly Act and shaking the entire legislative framework to its core," he said. "It no longer deserves to be recognized as a legitimate political party."

Han added that the Democratic Party would "no longer stand by and watch this unconscionable conduct," pledging to amend the National Assembly Act to restore proper legislative procedures and ensure that deliberate obstruction and bad-faith tactics have no place in the Assembly.

Earlier, at a caucus meeting held before the rally, Han said the party intended to address shortcomings in the fast track system and filibuster rules. He also expressed hope that the first round of legislative priorities among the key policy agenda items of the Lee Jae-myung administration would be completed by December.


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