Rival parties engage tit for tat on first day of new parliamentary session
- 6 years ago
Rival lawmakers have their plates full as a number of key issues need to be sorted out during the April parliamentary session.
But from the start, they could not narrow differences while trying to finalize the 30 day schedule.
Kim Min-ji has the latest from the national assembly.
Korea's parliament is in a race against time to reach a consensus on amending the country's Constitution.
Rival parties are in a tug of war,... with conservative opposition parties calling for the President to withdraw his proposal,... and demanding that the ruling Democratic Party of Korea come up with its own draft that seeks to dilute the massive powers of the president.
The ruling party meanwhile wants a deal struck by no later than May 4th,... giving it just enough time to meet other legal procedures so that it can hold a referendum on the Constitution in tandem with local elections on June 13th.
The National Assembly Speaker on Monday called on parties to put aside their bickering and make sure they are productive in April during his regular meeting with floor leaders.
"Please do your role so that the National Assembly can be productive and support the people. The April session will likely be the last before my term ends in May. I call on floor leaders for efforts to pass many bills and also deal with the Constitutional amendment. I will also do my best."
Monday's meeting also saw a new player on the political scene.
The liberal Party for Democracy and Peace and the progressive Justice Party launched a joint negotiating body -- giving them a combined 20 seats in parliament.
"Until now, we haven't been able to come to the negotiating bloc due to a shortage in parliamentary seats. Our new bloc will be at the forefront of making efforts to hammer out deals. When it comes to the government structure, parties need to put aside their political interests and think of what the people want."
The new negotiating bloc is expected to give the ruling party a degree of backing due to its left-leaning tendencies.
"The new four-party setting is expected to end up creating a two-against-two composition.
For now, it seems that the April session will be unpredictable as neither side has an overwhelming lead in parliamentary seats."
In fact, the start of a new parliamentary session also got off to a rough ride.
With rival parties at odds over contentious bills that have to be handled -- they failed to agree on the itinerary for the 30-day session -- and a full parliament meeting that was scheduled for Monday afternoon was also called off.
Getting off to a bad start -- an intense session will likely be in store -- especially with a huge stack of items to work through,... including deliberation of the government's extra budget bill, interpellation sessions and amending the Constitution.
Kim Min-ji, Arirang News.
But from the start, they could not narrow differences while trying to finalize the 30 day schedule.
Kim Min-ji has the latest from the national assembly.
Korea's parliament is in a race against time to reach a consensus on amending the country's Constitution.
Rival parties are in a tug of war,... with conservative opposition parties calling for the President to withdraw his proposal,... and demanding that the ruling Democratic Party of Korea come up with its own draft that seeks to dilute the massive powers of the president.
The ruling party meanwhile wants a deal struck by no later than May 4th,... giving it just enough time to meet other legal procedures so that it can hold a referendum on the Constitution in tandem with local elections on June 13th.
The National Assembly Speaker on Monday called on parties to put aside their bickering and make sure they are productive in April during his regular meeting with floor leaders.
"Please do your role so that the National Assembly can be productive and support the people. The April session will likely be the last before my term ends in May. I call on floor leaders for efforts to pass many bills and also deal with the Constitutional amendment. I will also do my best."
Monday's meeting also saw a new player on the political scene.
The liberal Party for Democracy and Peace and the progressive Justice Party launched a joint negotiating body -- giving them a combined 20 seats in parliament.
"Until now, we haven't been able to come to the negotiating bloc due to a shortage in parliamentary seats. Our new bloc will be at the forefront of making efforts to hammer out deals. When it comes to the government structure, parties need to put aside their political interests and think of what the people want."
The new negotiating bloc is expected to give the ruling party a degree of backing due to its left-leaning tendencies.
"The new four-party setting is expected to end up creating a two-against-two composition.
For now, it seems that the April session will be unpredictable as neither side has an overwhelming lead in parliamentary seats."
In fact, the start of a new parliamentary session also got off to a rough ride.
With rival parties at odds over contentious bills that have to be handled -- they failed to agree on the itinerary for the 30-day session -- and a full parliament meeting that was scheduled for Monday afternoon was also called off.
Getting off to a bad start -- an intense session will likely be in store -- especially with a huge stack of items to work through,... including deliberation of the government's extra budget bill, interpellation sessions and amending the Constitution.
Kim Min-ji, Arirang News.