The National Assembly holds a plenary session Thursday afternoon at the Yeouido parliament building in Seoul to elect chairs for six standing committees — the Education Committee, Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Trade, Industry and Energy Committee, Health and Welfare Committee, Land and Infrastructure Committee, and Intelligence Committee. The Assembly elected Rep. Kim Hee-jung as education chair, Rep. Song Seok-jun as foreign affairs chair, Rep. Kim Seong-won as trade and industry chair, Rep. Lee Man-hee as welfare chair, Rep. Yoo Eui-dong as land and infrastructure chair, and Rep. Lee Yang-su as intelligence chair. The Gender Equality and Family Committee chair is to be elected at a later date following internal coordination within the People Power Party.
The National Assembly holds a plenary session Thursday afternoon at the Yeouido parliament building in Seoul to elect chairs for six standing committees — the Education Committee, Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Trade, Industry and Energy Committee, Health and Welfare Committee, Land and Infrastructure Committee, and Intelligence Committee. The Assembly elected Rep. Kim Hee-jung as education chair, Rep. Song Seok-jun as foreign affairs chair, Rep. Kim Seong-won as trade and industry chair, Rep. Lee Man-hee as welfare chair, Rep. Yoo Eui-dong as land and infrastructure chair, and Rep. Lee Yang-su as intelligence chair. The Gender Equality and Family Committee chair is to be elected at a later date following internal coordination within the People Power Party.

Some People Power Party lawmakers clashed with the party's floor leadership Friday over standing committee assignments for the second half of the National Assembly's term.

The PPP notified its members of their standing committee placements for the next two years around the time the party's committee chair candidates were being elected at a plenary session Friday.

Several lawmakers who were not assigned to their preferred committees then went to the floor leadership to voice their dissatisfaction.

Rep. Kwon Young-jin, a two-term lawmaker from Daegu, reportedly approached floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik after the plenary session ended Friday afternoon and demanded an explanation of the principles behind the committee assignments, raising the issue forcefully.

During the confrontation, Kwon was heard shouting "Jeong Jeom-sik, get over here," with reporters waiting outside the office able to hear the raised voices. The exchange reportedly escalated to a physical altercation as Kwon pressed his protest.

As the situation grew serious, Jeong told Kwon to "calm down and come back later" and said, "Who grabs their floor leader by the collar just because they didn't get the committee they wanted?" Nearby lawmakers also tried to intervene. Kwon, however, reportedly refused to stop, demanding, "Explain what the principles for committee assignments are," and adding, "I'll grab you by the collar ten times if I have to. You're all just doing whatever you want."

After the confrontation ended, Jeong emerged from his office and told reporters only that "it is not appropriate to discuss internal party matters in this way," before leaving.

Sources said a large number of lawmakers had sought seats on the Policy Committee, the Land and Infrastructure Committee, and the Trade and Industry Committee, and that some members objected to what they saw as an unfair pattern of certain lawmakers being placed on popular committees in succession.

Earlier that day, another two-term lawmaker from the Yeongnam region also reportedly confronted Kim Seung-su, the floor leadership's chief deputy for parliamentary operations, around the time of a general membership meeting, demanding, "Do you think you can just ignore us?" over the committee assignments.

The floor leadership is not expected to revise the assignments. A floor leadership official said the authority to assign committee seats rests solely with the floor leader and that it is impossible to satisfy everyone, adding: "Without a formal apology, disciplinary action would be warranted. A protest and an act of violence are two different things."


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