As the Democratic Party of Korea's new floor leader, Rep. Kim Byung-kee said he would prioritize dealing with the "insurrectionists" of the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration, echoing President Lee Jae-myung's campaign promise.
Kim said as floor leader he "won't let anyone who took part in the insurrection get away." He was referring to Yoon's attempt to impose martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, which the Democratic Party characterizes as an "insurrection."
Kim said he will "drain the country of the insurrectionists" within the first year of Lee's presidency.
Corporate law reform a top legislative priority
As the Democratic Party's top legislative priority, Kim picked reform of corporate laws aimed at expanding the rights of minority shareholders.
The Democratic Party has been pushing to revise the Commercial Act to require boards of directors' fiduciary duties to act in the interests of not only companies, but also minority shareholders.
Kim said the corporate law reform would be "instrumental" to deliver Lee's campaign promise of getting the Kospi, Korea's main bourse, to surpass 5,000 points.
Hurdles are anticipated in getting the contentious revisions to pass, as the National Assembly's standing committees overseeing economic and finance legislation are currently chaired by the opposition, the People Power Party.
But Kim drew the line on shuffling the standing committee chairs, so that the Democratic Party would continue to chair the legislative and judiciary committee, which reviews bills passed by other standing committees.
"The legislative committee, which has the power to strike down bills passed by other standing committees, is the ultimate committee. So we intend to keep it," a lawmaker part of the new floor leadership told The Korea Herald.
Abolishing prosecution service key to end 'insurrection'
The Democratic Party sees reforming the press and the criminal justice system as central to its agenda to "end the insurrection" that the party accuses Yoon of waging.
Soon after Lee took office on June 4, the Democratic Party proposed a series of bills, seeking a major overhaul of the country's criminal justice procedures, not just to weaken but effectively dissolve the public prosecution service.
Under the Democratic Party bills, the public prosecution service would be broken up into two new bodies, one for investigation and another in charge of indictment, to be placed under the direction of the prime minister's office.
The opposition People Power Party criticized the bills as threatening the separation of powers between the three branches of government by subjugating key law enforcement functions to the executive.
Kim called the next few months the "critical time" for reform. He said his party will "act fast, and not lose momentum."
Spy-turned-lawmaker to steer ruling party on Assembly floor
Kim was elected Friday in a party vote that allowed registered members of the general public to participate for the first time. Floor elections are traditionally limited to lawmakers. The expanded voting was part of the Democratic Party's initiative to increase "direct democracy" within the party.
Kim was a senior agent at the National Intelligence Service before he was picked up by the Democratic Party in 2016 to support the drive to reform the country's spy service.
The Democratic Party is set to elect the rest of the party leadership, including the top post of chair, in July.
Hard-line lawmaker Jung Chung-rae first to enter party chair race
Running to be the new Democratic Party chair, a post last held by President Lee, is Rep. Jung Chung-rae.
Announcing his bid Sunday, Jung, a four-term hard-line Democratic Party lawmaker, said he would "fight" the rival People Power Party so that the Lee administration would not have to.
"Leave the partisan fighting to Jung Chung-rae, so that the president can focus on doing his job," Jung said.
Also on Sunday, the Democratic Party claimed that the Yoon administration kept a secret list of generals and other military leaders supposedly close to the main liberal party.
The Democratic Party said it plans to file additional criminal complaints against Kim Yong-hyun, former defense minister in the Yoon administration, over the blacklisting allegations. Kim is currently in custody while on trial for his alleged role in the martial law decree.
arin@heraldcorp.com
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