Selection process for Budget and Accounts Committee chair Jin Seong-jun to take place at March 12 plenary
Democratic Party stance unchanged on TK integration bill despite strong push from the People Power Party
Lawmakers from both parties met on the 10th and agreed to convene the first plenary of the March extraordinary session on the 12th to consider roughly 60 bills addressing public livelihood issues.
Cheon Jun-ho, the Democratic Party’s deputy floor leader for parliamentary operations, told reporters after meeting Yu Sang-beom, his counterpart from the People Power Party, in the Steering Committee chair’s office at the National Assembly main building that the parties’ chief deputies had agreed to hold the plenary on the 12th.
They plan to prioritize the U.S. investment bill at the March 12 plenary and to advance about 60 bipartisan bills aimed at public welfare and reform. Cheon said the parties will negotiate the specific contents of those bills at a later date.
The vacant chairmanship of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts was also discussed. Cheon said the post is currently vacant and that they expect to run a selection process to elect Democratic Party lawmaker Jin Seong-jun as committee chair.
The proposed special law to administratively merge Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province — known as the TK integration bill — again failed to move forward. Yu said the People Power Party pressed strongly for its passage today, but the Democratic Party’s position has not changed, making passage unlikely.
Yu summarized the agreement and said the parties expect to handle about 60 bills on the 12th.
Separately, on the 9th the National Assembly’s Special Committee on U.S. Investment held a subcommittee and then a full meeting and approved the special U.S. investment law unanimously. The bill would establish a Korea–U.S. Strategic Investment Corporation with capital of KRW 2 trillion (about $1.5 billion) to facilitate roughly $350 billion in U.S.-bound investment commitments.
