South Korea's National Assembly Passes Bill to Shorten Fast-Track Deliberation Period

SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- The National Assembly on Thursday passed a bill aimed at significantly shortening the deliberation period to a maximum of 90 days from the current 330 for fast-track bills.

The proposed revision to the National Assembly Act was passed in a 153-81 vote during a plenary session, despite objections from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), which argued the ruling party was unilaterally pushing through the bill without sufficient deliberation.

The revision shortens the review period for fast-track bills to 90 days -- 60 days by a standing committee and 30 days at the legislation and judiciary committee.

The bill was initially submitted to a plenary session late last month, but a filibuster launched by the PPP prevented a vote before the July extraordinary parliamentary session ended at midnight.

Under the current National Assembly Act, a measure designated as a fast-track bill can take up to 330 days to be put to a plenary vote, including up to 180 days in a standing committee and another 90 days in the legislation and judiciary committee.

If the review is not completed within this period, the bill is automatically put to a vote in a plenary session within 60 days.

The revision also requires a fast-tracked bill that clears the judiciary committee to be proposed at the first parliamentary plenary session held after approval by the committee.

A bill can be designated as a fast-track proposal with the approval of at least three-fifths of lawmakers, allowing it to pass even without bipartisan agreement to prevent it from remaining pending in parliament for too long.

Separately, the Assembly also approved a motion recommending three candidates for special inspector general, tasked with investigating corruption involving the president's family. The president is now required to select one of the candidates recommended by parliament.

The independent inspector general position was established in 2014 under then President Park Geun-hye, but it has been left vacant since 2016.