National Assembly at practical standstill as rival parties still at odds over contentious bills
  • 6 years ago
Rival parties in the National Assembly are still deadlocked over contentious bills.
A most concerning development as it could stall progress on other pending issues, namely the constitutional ammendment.
Kim Min-ji with more.
Rather than getting on with legislation, rival parties have made parliament a battleground.
The April session that practically came to a standstill on its first day Monday -- saw no progress made on the second day either.
The bickering began over key contentious bills.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea hopes to pass a bill establishing an investigative agency to deal exclusively with corruption among high-ranking officials,... while the opposition wants to pass a revision to the broadcasting act... that would guarantee neutrality and fairness at public broadcasters.

The ruling party slammed the opposition parties for boycotting Monday's plenary session.
They took aim at the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, in particular, saying the conservatives are making a habit of boycotting parliament -- rather than talking and trying to reach compromises.

The conservative party however, blamed the standstill in parliament on stubbornness in the ruling party.
It said while the parliament ought to be making progress on key bills, including the revised broadcasting act,... the ruling party is refusing to cooperate and is just looking for ways to win the June local elections.

The centrist Bareun Mirae Party also said that if the ruling party refuses to budge on the broadcasting act then it won't cooperate on other matters.
It also pointed out that it's the same bill the ruling party pushed for when it was in opposition -- saying they can't just change their stance now that they're in power.

This is the last extraordinary session ahead of the June elections,... and there's concerns that the political bickering could hold up other key agendas -- including talks on amending the Constitution and deliberation of the government's extra budget bill.
Kim Min-ji, Arirang News.
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