It’s time to pass urgent livelihood bills

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It’s time to pass urgent livelihood bills

Published: 25 Jun. 2024, 20:02 Updated: 26 Jun. 2024, 14:16

At first glance, the National Assembly appears to be normalized after the governing People Power Party (PPP) ended its boycott of the new legislature to protest the majority Democratic Party (DP)’s unilateral operation of the legislature after its landslide victory in the April 10 elections. But the truth is that the legislature is not running smoothly. The DP has passed controversial revisions to the Broadcasting Act to effectively control the mighty Korea Communications Commission.

The PPP demanded the contentious revisions be discussed in a subcommittee. But the chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, a DP lawmaker, arbitrarily pushed their passage — just a week after the DP-controlled Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee passed them.

The majority party is determined to pass the disputed revisions and a special motion for an independent counsel investigation into the suspicious death of a Marine in a plenary session scheduled for July. But the swift passage of such bills through standing committees is politically motivated but not related to people’s livelihood. The revisions to the Broadcasting Act are aimed at strengthening unions’ power over public broadcasting while the special motion for the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into the suspicious death of the soldier is aimed at impeaching President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The revisions to the Broadcasting Act and the special motion were already vetoed by the president. We wonder why the majority party passed the same revisions and motion shortly after the new legislature convened.

Could the National Assembly really afford such political battles? Other urgent bills are awaiting their passage in the legislature: a bill to reform the debt-ridden national pension service; a bill to raise our ultralow birthrate; a revision to the Basic Housing Act to offer newlyweds housing loans with low interest rates; a special bill to deal with mounting radioactive waste; the AI Basic Act to reinforce our competitiveness in the promising sector; and the K-chips Act to provide financial support for cutting-edge semiconductors, for instance.

If the DP is engrossed in waging a political battle against the president by turning a blind eye to such imminent challenges, this constitutes a brazen defiance of the people who voted for the party in the last election. The governing party also must share the responsibility. The PPP was unable to pass some of the bills, including the bill to reform the national pension system, due to its minority status in the previous legislature.

We understand the PPP’s recent boycott of the new Assembly after the DP threatened to take the helms of all 18 standing committees. And yet, the PPP certainly played a part in delaying the opening of the new legislature. We urge both parties to give hope to people.