Not a Single Bill Proposal Raised by 128 Assemblypersons

Civic Organizations Solidarity Council (COSC), consisted of 250 organizations, criticized yesterday at the press conference held for the evaluation of the 16th National Assembly saying that ``the 16th National Assembly has not broken away from the old political practices carried out by the 15th National Assembly.`` The COSC evaluated the 16th National Assembly commenting that ``although the number of bill proposals raised by the assemblypersons in the 16th National Assembly increased by 155 (74.1 percent), the National Assembly has failed to be a substantial and fair assembly because it has not followed its law, which was reformed last February.``

The COSC particularly pointed out that although four articles -`the establishment of the standing committee`, `the utilization of expert of the permanent committee`, `the expanded enforcement of question to the urgent pending issues`, `the system of the committee of the whole Assembly`- were included in the reformed National Assembly law, they were never operated for the last one year. The COSC also announced that Assemblyperson Cho Woong-Kyu (GNP) proposed the most number of bills (19 bill suggestions) in the 16th National Assembly followed by Shim Jae-Chul (GNP, 15), Kim Won-Woong (GNP, 10)and Kim Hong-Shin (GNP, 10). However, 128 Assemblypersons did not raise a single bill proposal in the 16th National Assembly.

The COSC also selected `Assemblyperson of stumbling stone` and `Assemblyperson of stepping stone` in the reform legislation based on the assembly activities and speech records in the field of gender, anti-corruption, education, and the human rights.

Soh Young-A sya@donga.com