Agricultural and Marine Affairs Commission, led by the government, passed the Nonghyup Act to introduce a direct election system... National power ‘non-attendance’

The 'Rural and Fishing Village Win-Win Cooperation Fund Creation and Extension to 2037' bill was also processed.

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jeong Yeon-sol = The amendment to the Agricultural Cooperatives Act (Nonghyup Act), which aims to introduce a direct election system for members for the chairman of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, passed the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee of the National Assembly on the 11th.

On this day, the Agricultural and Fisheries Committee held a general meeting without the People Power Party and passed the amendment to the Agricultural Cooperative Act led by the Democratic Party of Korea.

The main point of the bill is to introduce a 'direct member direct system' in which the chairman of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation is directly elected by all union members, not the union president, and to strengthen external supervision by establishing an independent audit organization separate from the federation.

When the direct election system for union members is introduced, the number of voters will increase from the existing 1,110 (electors) to approximately 1.87 million (union members).

The Democratic Party believes that the democracy of the organization can be strengthened through a direct election system and transparency can be strengthened through the establishment of an independent audit organization.

Members of the People Power Party's Agricultural and Marine Affairs Committee held a press conference at the National Assembly on this day and criticized, "There will be damage to farmers, including a huge cost burden due to changes to the election system, controversy over unconstitutionality, and passing on litigation costs," and "President Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party are responsible for all side effects."

Meanwhile, at the meeting on this day, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Oceans Committee also passed next year's budget plan for the four relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, as well as an amendment to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Agriculture and Fisheries Act, which extends the creation period of the Rural Coexistence Cooperation Fund until 2037 and raises the target amount to 2 trillion won.

However, the budget plan of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs was transferred to the Budget and Accounts Special Committee according to the government's original plan due to a breakdown in the previous budget subcommittee due to conflict between the ruling and opposition parties over the integration of agricultural development funds.