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A party addicted to impeachment

Published: 08 Nov. 2023, 20:32

The Democratic Party (DP) has decided to push for the passage of two controversial bills — revisions to the Labor Act and the Broadcast Act — in a plenary session of the National Assembly on Thursday. Immediately after making the decision, the majority party, which holds 168 seats in the 300-member legislature, also submitted three motions for a legislative probe into the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s “attempt to control the press,” the loss of lives from a flooded underpass in July, and the suspicious death of a marine on a rescue mission during the flood. The DP took to the offensive to turn the tide after it was cornered by the governing People Power Party (PPP)’s recent policy drives to merge Gimpo into Seoul and temporarily ban short selling in the stock market.

But such contentious revisions cannot be pushed by the DP’s majority power alone. The revision to the Labor Act requires thorough deliberation given its massive impact on relations between employers and unions, as it restricts companies’ damage claims even against illegal strikes. In a press conference Wednesday, six major business lobby groups, including the Korea Enterprises Federation, expressed deep concerns about the possibility of their managerial rights being the target of strikes, not to mention the chaos expected when unions of contract workers demand the right to labor negotiation from their employers. The DP sat on the revision to the Broadcast Act when it was the opposition party. But after its defeat in the last presidential election, it wants to fill the board of public broadcasters with its allies.

The PPP prepares to counter the militant move with a filibuster. But if the DP pushes the revisions, the PPP plans to recommend that the president veto them. If the DP seeks political gains from repeated presidential vetoes, that’s a miscalculation. Barely one month has passed since the two ever-divergent parties agreed to stop the vicious cycle of political battles. If the majority party returns to its signature domineering style, the plan will backfire.

The DP is also considering the impeachment of National Communications Commission Chairman Lee Dong-kwan. The party decides today whether to submit a motion to impeach him for “arbitrarily dismissing board members of the public broadcaster.” The DP claims it justifies his impeachment, but the boundaries of his violation of the Constitution and relevant laws are blurry.

If the mammoth party really submits the impeachment motion, the next parliamentary election on April 10 will likely be held with Chairman Lee suspended from his job. The majority party threatens to impeach nearly a third of all Cabinet members, including the president. The DP must stop abusing the impeachment card before it’s too late.