The National Assembly elected four chairs for parliamentary committees in the plenary session Friday, as the main opposition People Power Party walked out of the session in a show of protest.
At the plenary session, lawmakers of the ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea, liberal Rebuilding Korea Party, liberal Progressive Party and conservative New Reform Party voted to elect the new chairs of the committees — all of whom are Democratic Party members.
Three-term lawmaker and whip of the ruling party Rep. Kim Byung-kee will chair the House Steering Committee. Four-term Rep. Lee Choon-suak is to chair the Legislative and Judiciary Committee. Three-term Rep. Kim Kyo-heung will lead the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee. Finally, Rep. Han Byung-do is to chair the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts.
Han will steer the committee to review the 30.5 trillion won ($22.4 billion) extra budget bill proposed by the liberal Lee Jae Myung administration, as the ruling bloc looks to pass the bill in the parliament next week.
Lawmakers of the conservative People Power Party boycotted the vote, but they did not have enough legislative power to block the parliament's decision, as they just hold 107 out of the 298 currently occupied seats at the National Assembly.
The People Power Party has demanded that an opposition party lawmaker lead the Legislative and Judiciary Committee, referring to precedent. It had also asked that the National Assembly wait until next week to elect committee chairs aside from that for the Budget Committee.
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