National Assembly Elects Committee Chairs Amid Opposition

• The National Assembly elected chiefs for 11 parliamentary committees.
• The ruling Democratic Party (DP) unilaterally pushed for the elections.
• The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) boycotted the session and criticized the move.
• Disagreements over committee chairmanships, especially the judiciary committee, led to the impasse.
• The DP holds a majority in the Assembly, enabling unilateral decisions.

SEOUL, June 30 (Yonhap) -- The ruling Democratic Party (DP)-controlled National Assembly elected the chiefs of 10 parliamentary standing committees and a special budget committee on Tuesday, a move met with opposition from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP).

The elections for the 11 committee chairs occurred during a plenary session, following a failure by the ruling and opposition parties to reach an agreement on the formation of parliamentary standing committees for the latter half of the Assembly's term. The DP unilaterally recommended candidates for the positions.

The PPP criticized the DP's actions, boycotting the plenary session and vowing not to cooperate with the activated standing committees. The parties had been in negotiations for weeks over the distribution of committee chairmanships, with significant disagreement over who should lead the judiciary committee, a key panel for approving bills.

DP floor leader Han Byung-do and his PPP counterpart, Rep. Jeong Jeom-sig, held last-minute talks but could not find a compromise. Jeong emphasized that "checks and balances would be undermined" if the PPP did not chair the judiciary committee.

The DP, holding 161 out of 300 seats, has the majority needed to elect committee chiefs unilaterally. Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik reportedly appointed members to the committees, a decision the PPP deemed unilateral and has formally protested.

With the current impasse over the 11 committees, the selection process for the remaining seven committee chairs is also anticipated to be contentious.