Getting down to work

The 20th National Assembly will have to open its first extraordinary session on Tuesday in compliance with the National Assembly Law. A legislature’s first assembly meeting should elect the house speaker and two deputies.

The new legislature is bound by law to vote on a new leadership by Tuesday. The lawmaking branch has audaciously ignored the law and stretched the legal date to vote on a new leadership for self-serving purposes time after time.

The 20th National Assembly should set the rightful precedent of abiding by the legal timetable to name the podium members as well as the chairs for the 18 standing committees.

The 20th legislature has a historic role of setting a new example in lawmaking to get rid of the many bottlenecks the country is stuck with and rebuild the nation completely through the political art of cooperation and compromise.

Various safety-related scandals — deaths from humidifier sterilizers laden with toxic chemicals and rising crimes against women – must be addressed immediately through effective and lasting solutions after thorough investigations.

A number of pending issues have been neglected while the National Assembly went into a two-month hiatus before and after the April election.
The Saenuri Party and its two liberal rivals, the Minjoo Party and People’s Party, must perform their functions in the legislature representing the people and their interests.

They must choose their executive members as it is their responsibility to the public. If they cannot reach agreement, they could put it to a secret vote as stipulated in the National Assembly Law.

The Saenuri Party should not consider the boycott that a few of its members were suggesting if one of its candidates does not secure the house speaker position.

The party must not prove true the description of “a useless chauvinistic man with no appeal, capacity, vision or character,” as warned by an outside member of the party’s emergency committee. The liberal parties should also try to prove themselves useful for a change.

JoongAng Ilbo, June 4, Page 30