Rival parties reach an agreement on parliamentary committee formation

After 53 days of political vacuum, the ruling and main opposition parties have finally reached an agreement on July 22 on how to share parliamentary committee chairmanships.

Kweon Seong-dong, the acting chairman and floor leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), and Park Hong-keun, the floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), discussed the plan to form parliamentary committee chairmanships in the second half of the year under the chairmanship of Speaker Kim Jin-pyo of National Assembly Speaker

Under the agreement, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) will take seven committees, including the judiciary, intelligence and public administration committees, while the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) will take 11 committees, including the national policy and science committees.

The key point in committee formation talks was which party will take the chairmanships of the science, ICT, broadcasting and communications committee and the public administration and security committee. Under Friday's deal, the two sides agreed to alternately hold the chairmanships for one year each.

Regarding the launch of a special committee on judiciary reform -- which had been another stumbling block in the talks -- the parties agreed to hand over the chairmanship to the DP and fill the 12-member committee with six lawmakers from each party.

The rival parties also agreed to launch two special committees to review reform agendas in political policy and the pension system. The committees will be respectively chaired by the DP and PPP.

Kweon Seong-dong, the acting chairman and floor leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), said, "Although both the ruling and opposition parties are not satisfied, we reached an agreement today because we thought it would be a priority to form parliamentary committee chairmanships quickly and deal with urgent issues of people's livelihood."

Park Hong-keun, the floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), said, "I suggested it because I thought it would be right to secure neutrality in police, local governments, and election management by taking over the science, ICT, broadcasting and communications committee first and then the public administration and security committee.

"I wanted to choose both, but the people wanted the National Assembly to operate as soon as possible, and the lawmakers delegated the choice to the floor leadership at the last parliamentary meeting, so I thought Solomon's wisdom was necessary."