People Power Party lawmakers protesting at a plenary session of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. Yonhap News. 

Lawmakers from the People Power Party on the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee announced on the 19th that they would "propose the 'Choo Mi-ae Prevention Act' to prevent the abuse of power by standing committee chairs and the 'Kim Hyun-ji Prevention Act' to prevent the majority party from blocking witness summons."

The People Power Party lawmakers on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, including Na Kyung-won, Cho Bae-sook, Song Seok-jun, Shin Dong-wook, Kwak Gyu-taek, Joo Jin-woo, and Park Jun-tae, stated in a press release, "We are pushing for the 'National Assembly Normalization Package Act' to prevent the collapse of parliamentary democracy."

The amendment to the National Assembly Act, named the Choo Mi-ae Prevention Act, legally guarantees the recommendation rights of floor leaders for committee members and restricts the abuse of the standing committee chair's power to maintain order.

Furthermore, it stipulates that if lawmakers who have not yet spoken remain, the termination of debate is prohibited, and means of expressing opinions such as laptop stickers and A3-sized signs attached by lawmakers will not be considered obstructions to proceedings.

Rep. Na explained, "The intention is to correct the repeated instances of unilateral committee operations, deprivation of speaking rights, forced removal, and refusal of floor leader appointments by the majority party that have occurred in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee."

The People Power Party claims that since Chairperson Choo Mi-ae took office, there have been a total of 271 cases of restricted speaking rights in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, including 189 instances of depriving lawmakers of speaking rights for procedural and personal remarks, 26 instances of terminating debate after denying speaking rights, and 56 instances of unfulfilled requests for debate time.

The amendment to the National Assembly Act and the Act on National Audits and Inspections, named the Kim Hyun-ji Prevention Act, stipulates that if one-third or more of the committee members in attendance request a witness to appear in writing, the witness will be automatically summoned without a majority vote.

The chairperson must immediately issue a summons, and any delay or refusal will be considered illegal.

Under current law, the summoning of witnesses in the National Assembly requires a committee vote, meaning that if the majority party opposes it, witnesses requested by a minority party cannot be summoned.

Rep. Na explained, "This bill is intended to prevent the practice of key witnesses evading appearance by changing their positions just before a parliamentary audit, as seen in the recent case of Kim Hyun-ji, the head of the Presidential Office's First Deputy Secretariat."

Yonhap News