National Assembly, first plenary session of August extraordinary session on the 20th... Forecast of conflict over real estate and bill processing

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporters Park Gyeong-jong and Park Soo-yoon = The National Assembly is expected to hold the first plenary session of the extraordinary session of the National Assembly on the 20th and begin processing the bill.

The Democratic Party of Korea plans to speed up the processing of real estate-related bills after processing the fast-track shortened bill that only needs to be voted on.

The People Power Party's position is that it cannot easily pass all real estate-related bills in a situation where it is difficult to fundamentally agree with the Lee Jae-myung government's real estate policy, so a strong confrontation is expected between the two sides.

◇ The ‘PAT shortening bill’ is expected to be passed at the plenary session on the 20th... Observation of confrontation over real estate bill

The ruling and opposition parties have already reached a consensus on holding the plenary session on the 20th.

On the 10th, the Democratic Party pressured the People Power Party to 'hold the plenary session on the 13th', and the People Power Party counter-proposed 'to hold the plenary session on the 20th', effectively converging opinions on the 20th.

On the 14th, the People Power Party's National Assembly Administration Department sent a text message to the party's lawmakers, saying that the plenary session would be held on the 20th and encouraging them to attend.

If the plenary session is held on the 20th, the amendment to the National Assembly Act that will shorten the fast-track period from the existing maximum of 330 days to 90 days will be processed first.

As for this bill, the filibuster (obstruction of lawful proceedings through unlimited debate) ended at the end of last month at the end of the National Assembly session in July, leaving only the voting process.

After passing the amendment to the National Assembly Act, the Democratic Party's goal is to quickly pass necessary bills in line with the government's real estate measures.

As real estate issues appear to be the biggest cause of the recent decline in President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating, the ruling party believes that the processing of related bills cannot be delayed.

Policy Committee Chairman Han Jeong-ae recently emphasized, "The bill related to the September 7 real estate supply measures has been delayed for over eight months due to non-cooperation from the People Power Party," and added, "We will definitely pass the relevant bills in August, no matter what happens."

In this case, the Urban Redevelopment Act, which shortens the period of redevelopment and reconstruction projects, the Public Housing Act, to quickly supply public housing land, and the Special Act on School Site Complex Development, to develop unused school land, are expected to be priority bills.

The Democratic Party's position is that since there are currently about 110 bills that have not been processed even though they have been submitted to the plenary session, it is necessary to expedite the processing of bills such as the Act on Treating Veterans of War and the Space Development Promotion Act in addition to real estate-related bills.

On the other hand, the People Power Party is preparing an offensive, saying that it cannot simply pass the real estate-related bills promoted by the government and ruling party.

If it is a non-contentious people's livelihood bill where there is no difference of opinion between the ruling and opposition parties, we will cooperate in processing it, but if it is a bill with problems revealed even at the standing committee stage, it cannot be passed smoothly.

Previously, members of the People Power Party of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee protested on April 30 by leaving without voting when some of the follow-up bills related to the government's September 7 and January 29 real estate measures that were not passed on in the subcommittee were immediately submitted to the plenary session.

At the time, the Democratic Party took the lead in handling the amendment to the Urban Development Act and the amendment to the Yongsan Park Construction Special Act, which relaxed the standards for securing park green space at the Yongsan Camp Kim site to increase real estate supply.

The People Power Party is also demanding a change in the government's real estate policy stance.

Spokesperson Cho Yong-sul said in a comment on the 14th, "We need to switch to a market-friendly policy so that we can voluntarily supply sales and rental quantities."

An in-house official said in a phone call on the 16th, "We will see what kind of real estate bill the ruling party raises during the preliminary consultation before the plenary session on the 20th and devise a response strategy."

◇ The ‘18th recount’ schedule is expected to be partially postponed.

The ruling and opposition parties are also conflicting over the issue of recounting the ballots in the ballot box at the Jamsil Olympic Park counting center.

Previously, the ruling and opposition parties tentatively agreed to extend the deadline for the National Assembly Special Investigation Committee, which was launched in response to the shortage of ballot papers for the June 3 local elections, until the end of August, and instead hold a recount at the Olympic Park counting center on the 18th.

However, regarding the issue of recount at the 3rd hearing of the Special Committee on National Security on the 10th, the Democratic Party argued that the recount should be conducted quickly on the 18th as previously tentatively agreed upon, but the People Power Party argued that the recount should be carried out in conjunction with the soon-to-be-launched special prosecutor of the National Election Commission, so a clear schedule for the recount was not agreed upon.

Meanwhile, attention is being paid to whether the ruling and opposition parties will find an agreement as the National Election Commission's National Recommendation Committee recommended two people, including Lee Tae-han (23rd class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), former chief prosecutor of the 4th criminal division of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, and Lee Hyuk (20th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), former prosecutor of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, to President Lee as special prosecutor candidates on the 14th.

The President must appoint one of the candidates within three days from the date of receiving the recommendation, and if the appointment is not made within the deadline, the senior person becomes the special prosecutor, so the appointment of the special prosecutor will be completed on the 17th at the latest.

A Democratic Party official said in a phone call, “We have conveyed our position to the People Power Party that ‘we can do it right away as long as we set a date.’” He added, “No matter how late it is, once a special prosecutor is appointed, a recount will have to be conducted immediately.”

The People Power Party had reservations about the '18-day reexamination', saying there was no need to rush the recount at the risk of contaminating evidence, but a forward-looking atmosphere was also sensed as the launch of a special investigation became visible.

A People Power Party official told Yonhap News, "The ruling and opposition parties have reached a consensus to jointly conduct a recount in the presence of a special prosecutor or an assistant special prosecutor." He added, "It will be difficult to conduct a recount on the 18th, but we will monitor the process after the appointment of a special prosecutor."