Filibuster expected to end, clearing path for bill's passage
PPP vows street protests, calls move a bid to slip law past distracted public
Democratic Party says revised bill removed all grounds for opposition objections
More clashes loom over democratic merit law, housing supply bills
With the National Assembly set to begin reviewing next year's record 821 trillion won ($612 billion) budget, the Democratic Party of Korea has declared its intent to push through the so-called fabricated indictment special prosecutor bill at a plenary session — prompting the People Power Party to launch a filibuster and threaten street protests, sending the political climate into a sharp freeze as the year-end budget season gets underway.
People Power Party Floor Leader Jeong Jeom-sik, speaking at a floor strategy meeting at the National Assembly on Friday, called the Lee Jae Myung government and its ruling party "a bad administration obsessed with saving one president rather than saving the people." Policy committee chairwoman Lim Yi-ja said the Assembly had "not a minute to spare" reviewing the budget bill, which was directly tied to people's livelihoods, and accused the Democratic Party of calculating that passing the bill amid the budget rush would cause the public to forget about it. "There is a shallow and arrogant calculation at work — that if they push it through while everyone is busy with the budget, the people will forget," she said.
The Democratic Party rebuffed the criticism, saying the People Power Party was mounting an excessive offensive even though the revised bill had already removed the provisions on case transfers and prosecution maintenance that had previously drawn objections.
Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok said at a supreme council meeting Friday that the fabricated indictment special prosecutor bill before the plenary session was "a bill that has completely eliminated the parts the People Power Party had used as grounds for opposition." He added that the special prosecutor selection process had been strengthened for democratic legitimacy and fairness, with each negotiating bloc in the Assembly nominating one candidate.
Floor Leader Han Byung-do said the People Power Party was planning to take to the streets again barely a month after its last round of protests. "They staged street protests before the national audit, and now again during budget deliberations — when exactly do they plan to do any actual work?" Han said. "It is truly lamentable that the main opposition party intends to waste this precious regular session period in the streets, when it should be tending to people's livelihoods and preparing for the nation's future."
The fabricated indictment special prosecutor bill was put before the plenary session Thursday, but its passage was delayed after the People Power Party filed for a filibuster. The bill is expected to clear the plenary session Friday afternoon after the Democratic Party moves to end the filibuster around 4 p.m.
At Thursday's plenary session, lawmakers passed a resolution to form a special committee on mega-regional strategic industrial zones to drive locally led growth, as well as a resolution calling for the expulsion of People Power Party lawmaker Kim Tae-gyu. The special committee on mega-regional zones — tasked with reviewing the designation and operation of such zones and related regulatory exemptions — will comprise 10 Democratic Party members, six People Power Party members and two members from non-negotiating blocs.
The People Power Party had initially planned to file filibusters on every item brought to the plenary session if the fabricated indictment special prosecutor bill was forced through, but stepped back from that position, limiting its opposition to a floor debate against the mega-regional special committee resolution.
A spokesperson for the Assembly speaker's office said the speaker had mediated between the two parties, judging that there was no need to filibuster the mega-regional special committee resolution, which was directly tied to people's livelihoods.
Further clashes over other major bills appear inevitable, however. Han told reporters after a meeting of floor leaders convened by the Assembly speaker on Thursday that the Democratic Party had "strongly requested" the speaker's office to put six bills on the agenda: the fabricated indictment special prosecutor bill, the democratic merit law, the mega-regional zone bill, the urban renewal act, the urban renewal promotion act and a development bill related to Yongsan. When the Assembly holds plenary sessions on Nov. 12 and Nov. 19, filibuster battles are expected to resume over the democratic merit law and the so-called "three housing supply bills."
Meanwhile, the People Power Party is launching street protests in response to the Democratic Party's push to pass the fabricated indictment special prosecutor bill. The party plans to hold a public rally on the steps of the main National Assembly building Friday afternoon, denouncing what it calls a "malicious law" to cancel Lee Jae Myung's trial, and to stage an outdoor rally near Gyeongbokgung Station on Saturday. On Monday, the party will hold a field supreme council meeting in front of Cheong Wa Dae, and has also announced a field general assembly of lawmakers there on Tuesday — when the bill is expected to clear a Cabinet meeting.
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