Assembly deadlock deepens as Democratic Party calls July session, PPP weighs full boycott

As the ruling and opposition parties remain locked in a bitter standoff over second-half committee leadership in the 22nd National Assembly, the Democratic Party of Korea announced it would convene a July extraordinary session, sharply escalating pressure on the People Power Party. The PPP, in turn, is weighing a full boycott of Assembly proceedings while training its fire on Democratic Party lawmaker Seo Young-gyo, who chairs the judiciary committee.

Han Byung-do, the Democratic Party's acting leader and floor leader, said at a policy coordination meeting Wednesday that "our economic engine is running more powerfully than ever, but growth must reach neighborhood businesses, youth employment and people's pockets to be truly meaningful." He added that the party would "call a July extraordinary session with eyes fixed solely on the public, and concentrate all our policy efforts there." Han also said the party would convene meetings of the 11 standing committees whose chairs had already been elected, to address pressing livelihood issues first.

The Democratic Party held a plenary session June 30 and unilaterally elected its own lawmakers to chair 11 of the National Assembly's 18 standing committees, including the powerful judiciary committee. Han warned the PPP that "if they keep throwing tantrums, the price will ultimately be public suffering," and urged the party to "drop this pointless stubbornness and take a constructive position, even today."

President Lee Jae Myung had asked Democratic Party floor leadership at a dinner at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday to "push harder in the second half to advance legislation tied to state policy priorities." Rep. Lee Ju-hee, the floor spokesperson who attended the dinner, told YTN Radio that "the atmosphere throughout was warm and cordial, with everyone exchanging kind words and goodwill."

However, Lee said of the standoff with the PPP: "The ball is now in the People Power Party's court — all the opposition needs to do is make a decision on those seven committee chairs."

Despite the pressure, the PPP is holding firm. Floor spokesperson Choi Eun-seok said in a statement that "full responsibility for making a mess of things from the very first step lies entirely with the Democratic Party, which rammed through legislative tyranny," adding that the party "cannot cooperate in the slightest with this kind of Assembly management that insults the main opposition, a governing partner." The PPP is also reportedly considering a full boycott of the July extraordinary session.

The party also went on the offensive against committee chair Seo. Floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik said at the supreme council meeting Wednesday that it had come to light that Seo had called former National Election Commission Chairman Noh Tae-ak on the day of the June 3 local elections to ask him to "publicize measures to prevent double-marking on ballots for local council seats." Jeong said that if the Democratic Party had "even a shred of sincerity about reforming the election commission, Seo should resign as judiciary committee chair and hand the special prosecutor nomination right to the opposition."

Jeong said "the very act of a lawmaker making a private call to the election commission chairman on election day to lodge a complaint is outrageous," calling it "not a simple complaint but something that could be seen as improper solicitation — evidence of deep collusion between the Democratic Party and the election commission."

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party plans to use a lawmakers' workshop Thursday to review priority bills by committee and map out a concrete legislative timeline for carrying out state policy goals.

Some political observers believe that even if the PPP returns to the Assembly floor, the confrontation between the two parties will only intensify, given a backlog of contentious bills — including legislation to abolish supplementary investigative powers, real estate tax reform, and measures tied to a semiconductor complex project in the Honam region.