Parliament to hold last plenary session for first half of 20th National Assembly
- 6 years ago
We're now half way into the 20th National Assembly.
Rival parties will be holding their last plenary session of the first half of the four-year parliament today,.... and voting on pending bills.
But the parties are still far apart on a number of bills.
For more, we connect to our political correspondent Kim Min-ji on the line.
Min-ji, fill us in on today's agenda.
Ji-yoon.
Rival parties will be holding the last plenary session for the first half of the 20th National Assembly this afternoon at 2PM.
So, basically today's session is the last opportunity to get any bills passed for them to go down as achievements made in the first half of the 20th National Assembly.
But rival parties are expected to clash over the passage of a resolution supporting the inter-Korean agreement, or Panmunjom Declaration.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea says that the resolution needs to be passed in order for the National Assembly to be at the forefront of bringing peace to the Korean peninsula,... while the main opposition Liberty Korea Party says that given the rapidly changing situation on the Korean peninsula ahead of the planned summit between North Korea and the U.S.,... now is not the time to decide on the bill.
Parties are also at odds over other pending bills,... including an amendment to the minimum wage bill,... which calls for including regular bonuses and welfare benefits as part of the minimum wage.
Well keep us updated on any developments. I understand the National Assembly Speaker also held his last press conference as speaker today?
That's right. His two-year term comes to an end tomorrow.
In his press conference,... National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun said that it was a tough two years.
Chung said he had three aims during his term, which were to build a National Assembly that supports the people,... realizes the spirit of the Constitution... and prepares for the future.
He said he can't say he achieved everything he set out to, but he did his best to keep his promises made to the people.
However, Chung expressed disappointment that despite a year and a half of talks at the assembly on amending the Constitution... the rival parties were unable to reach an agreement by June as promised.
Now his term officially comes to an end tomorrow.
As for the incoming speaker,... it's still undecided as rival parties are yet to hold a vote.
By law, the speaker is chosen from the party with the largest number of seats in parliament,... however, the main opposition party wants to put off the vote until after the by-elections that will be held on June 13th alongside the local elections.
This as, there could be a shift in which party holds the most seats.
The ruling party holds 118 seats,... while the main opposition...113.
Currently 12 districts are vacant and up for grabs.
The ruling party has selected its candidate,... but it seems that for the next few weeks or so,... the Assembly will be without a speaker.
This has been Kim Min-ji from
Rival parties will be holding their last plenary session of the first half of the four-year parliament today,.... and voting on pending bills.
But the parties are still far apart on a number of bills.
For more, we connect to our political correspondent Kim Min-ji on the line.
Min-ji, fill us in on today's agenda.
Ji-yoon.
Rival parties will be holding the last plenary session for the first half of the 20th National Assembly this afternoon at 2PM.
So, basically today's session is the last opportunity to get any bills passed for them to go down as achievements made in the first half of the 20th National Assembly.
But rival parties are expected to clash over the passage of a resolution supporting the inter-Korean agreement, or Panmunjom Declaration.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea says that the resolution needs to be passed in order for the National Assembly to be at the forefront of bringing peace to the Korean peninsula,... while the main opposition Liberty Korea Party says that given the rapidly changing situation on the Korean peninsula ahead of the planned summit between North Korea and the U.S.,... now is not the time to decide on the bill.
Parties are also at odds over other pending bills,... including an amendment to the minimum wage bill,... which calls for including regular bonuses and welfare benefits as part of the minimum wage.
Well keep us updated on any developments. I understand the National Assembly Speaker also held his last press conference as speaker today?
That's right. His two-year term comes to an end tomorrow.
In his press conference,... National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun said that it was a tough two years.
Chung said he had three aims during his term, which were to build a National Assembly that supports the people,... realizes the spirit of the Constitution... and prepares for the future.
He said he can't say he achieved everything he set out to, but he did his best to keep his promises made to the people.
However, Chung expressed disappointment that despite a year and a half of talks at the assembly on amending the Constitution... the rival parties were unable to reach an agreement by June as promised.
Now his term officially comes to an end tomorrow.
As for the incoming speaker,... it's still undecided as rival parties are yet to hold a vote.
By law, the speaker is chosen from the party with the largest number of seats in parliament,... however, the main opposition party wants to put off the vote until after the by-elections that will be held on June 13th alongside the local elections.
This as, there could be a shift in which party holds the most seats.
The ruling party holds 118 seats,... while the main opposition...113.
Currently 12 districts are vacant and up for grabs.
The ruling party has selected its candidate,... but it seems that for the next few weeks or so,... the Assembly will be without a speaker.
This has been Kim Min-ji from