The Democratic Party of Korea has pushed ahead with unilateral legislation even before completing the formation of the National Assembly. On the 20th, amid opposition from the People Power Party, the Democratic Party unilaterally convened a plenary session to table an amendment to the comprehensive special counsel law. The amendment is designed to extend the investigation period of the second comprehensive special counsel by another 30 days. It also includes provisions to increase the number of dispatched public officials by 20, bringing the total to 150. The second comprehensive special counsel has already extended its investigation deadline twice by 30 days each, yet its recent requests for arrest warrants for key suspects were rejected one after another by the court, stirring controversy over an "excessive investigation." The People Power Party strongly opposed the bill, calling the re-extension of the comprehensive special counsel "an extension of the public security regime," and launched a filibuster.
The bill to abolish the prosecution's supplementary investigation authority (an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act), which a majority of the public opposes, also appears likely to be forced through under the ruling party's leadership. Although calls for caution have been strongly raised even within the ruling camp, Seo Young-kyo, chair of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee and a member of the Democratic Party, said on the 19th that she would continue to push for the complete abolition of the supplementary investigation authority. Even as public concern over abolishing the prosecution's supplementary investigation authority grows following recent suspicions of the police's organized cover-up in the murder of a female high school student in Gwangju, hardline lawmakers within the ruling party are turning a blind eye, apparently mindful of the August 17 national convention that will select the party's next leadership. This Democratic Party convention will for the first time implement a one-person-one-vote system that reflects the votes of delegates and eligible party members at a one-to-one ratio, and these lawmakers appear to be making radical claims, such as the complete abolition of the supplementary investigation authority, to win the support of hardline eligible party members.
While the ruling party is absorbed in the interests of internal politics, cross-party cooperation and livelihood legislation are both spinning their wheels in the National Assembly. In fact, 59 livelihood and economic bills are adrift in the National Assembly without any clear points of contention. The business community continues to appeal for revisions to the amended Commercial Act and the so-called Yellow Envelope Act, which hinder corporate investment, but there has been no progress in the National Assembly's complementary legislative work to address these. A political party that pursues only partisan interests while relegating people's livelihoods to the back burner cannot win public support. In a poll conducted by Realmeter from the 13th to the 16th, the ruling party's approval rating stood at 43.1%, down 1.4 percentage points from the previous week. The Democratic Party must reflect on the cold public sentiment and first halt its legislative steamrolling.
