Former assembly speaker reflects on trust and lack thereof

Politics

Published: 19 Jun. 2022, 14:47 Updated: 20 Jun. 2022, 12:03

Former assembly speaker reflects on trust and lack thereof

Former National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug sits for an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo at his office at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, Wednesday. [KIM KYUNG-ROK]

Former National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug stressed the importance of patience and communication as he looked back on two years of parliamentary mediation.

“A National Assembly speaker should look to the lighthouse of the public and national interest rather than at political parties,” said Rep. Park in an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo at his office at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, Wednesday.

He said the speaker has to “carve the Chinese character of patience 100 times in his heart and endlessly communicate.”

Park emphasized the importance of communication and empathy as well as dialogue and compromise throughout the interview.

Pointing to a round table in the corner of his office, he said, “People only remember the official meetings with floor leaders in the speaker’s office, but in fact, all important discussions were held at that small table in this room.”

Last month, the Democratic Party (DP) rammed through the assembly controversial bills that will strip the prosecution of its investigative powers despite a boycott by People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers.

This came despite Park’s best attempt to mediate a compromise initially agreed upon by floor leaders of the DP and the PPP.

In turn, the PPP decided not to cooperate in the election of the chairman of the parliamentary legislation and judiciary committee. The DP and PPP are disputing who controls the committee, which plays a crucial role in the passage of bills.

The PPP argued it should get chairmanship of the committee since the DP got to name the new speaker, in accordance with an agreement between the two major parties last July. The DP controls the National Assembly and named Rep Kim Jin-pyo, a five-term lawmaker, as speaker in late May.

In May 2020, Park, a six-term lawmaker for the DP, became speaker of the 21st National Assembly and surrendered his party membership, in accordance with the law. Park wrapped up his two-year term as speaker at the end of last month.

A former journalist for the JoongAng Ilbo, Park started his political career in 1999 by joining the party of President Kim Dae-jung as a spokesman. He served as deputy Seoul mayor during the tenure of Goh Kun in 1999. He won his first legislative victory in 2000 and was re-elected six times from Daejeon. In 2012, he served as a deputy speaker of the National Assembly for two years.

When asked what kind of speaker he wanted to be remembered as, he replied, “I hope to be recorded as the speaker who established the era of the National Assembly branch in Sejong and advanced the politics of dialogue and compromise.”

The following are excerpts of the interview.

Q. During your tenure as parliamentary speaker, 52 official meetings of the ruling and opposition party floor leaders were held and you led many mediations.

A. Negotiation starts with trust, and trust begins with frequent dialogue and an open mind. In fact, there were more than 100 informal meetings aside from some 50 official meetings. The informal meetings were inconspicuously held in Room 804. The mediation process was never exposed. Even when I was in a difficult situation, I never tried to explain myself.

Under your watch, two budget proposals were passed within the deadline and five supplementary budget bills were also agreed upon. How did they come about?

The budget belongs to the people, not the ruling and opposition parties. We built trust through plenty of conversations and found compromise by speaking frankly based on such trust. If there was no compromise, I actively proposed mediation to deliberate on whether the two parties are right or the speaker’s mediation proposal is right. In particular, I met people who were candid and honest, such as Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, floor leader of the PPP.

What do you think about public distrust of the National Assembly?

The parliamentary speaker is the leader of the 300 members of the National Assembly that represents the entire nation. Ultimately, you must never be a spokesperson for one party. You have to decide whether you will be recorded in the history of the party you belonged to, or whether your legacy will be with the National Assembly and constitutional history of the Republic of Korea.

What do you think about the dispute over the issue of the leader of the judiciary committee and the postponement of the inauguration of the next speaker?

The politics of trust vanished in the process of passing the prosecutor reform bills. If the PPP had not overturned the deal, the DP would not have insisted on the chairmanship of the judiciary committee. The judiciary committee is also at fault. One or two lawmakers from the judiciary committee in the 20th National Assembly did not pass 91 bills agreed upon by the ruling and opposition parties. That is tyranny. The judiciary committee needs to be faithful to the system and its words.

What do you think is the best way to restore trust?

Ultimately, I think the National Assembly should become a bicameral system that can control itself. If we establish an upper house comprised of around 50 of the current 300 members, we can provide a mechanism for autonomous control of the parliament.

Do you have regrets over the prosecution reform bills?

It was the first complete deal signed by the National Assembly speaker after a consensus by the floor leaders and ratification in both parties’ caucuses, and then disclosed to the public. It was the highest level of agreement that politicians can make, with the exception of a public referendum. That the PPP overturned it is a denial of parliamentary politics.

Both the DP and PPP have pointed out the serious dangers of “fandom politics.” What do you think about such concerns?

Fandom is a huge asset for politicians. But you have to be good at judging whether that voice really reflects the voice of the silent majority. The politics of hatred and hostility due to fandom politics, and the politics of division and hostility, have become commonplace. This is a task that must be settled.

BY KANG TAE-HWA, SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]