NAMYANGJU — Namyangju City Council, the only one of 31 city and county councils in Gyeonggi Province that has yet to organize itself, has been at a standstill for more than two months since its term began. A partisan standoff over the speakership and standing committee chairmanships, compounded by a split within the majority Democratic Party of Korea, has raised concerns about delays in reviewing a supplementary budget and disbursing funds for livelihood programs, drawing criticism that the fight over posts has pushed residents' needs to the back seat.
The council, whose term began in July, has not completed its organization because of disagreements over how to divide the speaker's post, the deputy speakership and standing committee chairmanships, the council said on the 8th. The Democratic Party holds 11 of the 21 seats and the People Power Party 10, but negotiations have stalled as the majority party splintered along district committee lines.
Of the six posts at stake — speaker, deputy speaker and standing committee chairmanships — six Democratic Party members from the A and B district committees want to give the People Power Party one, while five members from the C district committee argue two should be handed over for the council to function smoothly. The two parties eventually drew up a tentative plan under which the Democratic Party would take the speakership and three committee chairmanships and the People Power Party the deputy speakership and one chairmanship, but the plan was voted down at a Democratic Party caucus meeting. A remark by one Democratic Party member during the talks describing rivals as "insurrection forces" also stirred controversy, deepening the rift.
The deadlock has also halted budget review, one of the council's core functions. The city government has submitted a second supplementary budget bill reflecting livelihood priorities, but the council has yet to even set a review schedule. Reviewing a budget bill requires examining individual projects, conducting site inspections and hearing from the executive branch, and the delay is leaving little time for that work. "We are concerned about disruptions even to essential spending such as welfare programs and local currency vouchers, which must be disbursed starting in October," a city official said.
The prolonged paralysis at Namyangju is unusual by national standards. As of the 8th, only two of the country's 227 basic-level local councils had failed to organize themselves: Namyangju City Council and the Daedeok District Council in Daejeon. The Gangseo District Council in Busan was also deadlocked for nearly two months but completed its organization on the 3rd of this month. Wrangling over post allocation is common immediately after local elections, but observers say it is rare for a council to lack even the basic framework for operations two months into its term, to the point of disrupting review of a livelihood budget.
With the Democratic Party's Gyeonggi provincial chapter stepping in to mediate, the council plans to convene an extraordinary session on the 9th. Still, disagreements within the Democratic Party over electing a speaker and distributing posts persist, and negotiations with the People Power Party, which initially demanded three posts, remain unresolved. The city plans to begin spending the supplementary budget in October, meaning the later the council organizes, the tighter the review schedule becomes.
Criticism from the community is also mounting. Groups including a youth association in the Wangsuk new town and the Namyangju City Non-Regular Workers' Union said, "The council is not a space for satisfying the ambitions of a particular party or individual, but a public institution responsible for citizens' tax money and their livelihoods." Kim Soo-yeon, the Democratic Party floor leader, said, "We take seriously the majority party's responsibility for the council's failure to operate normally," adding, "We will move quickly on the steps needed to normalize the council."
