“Parliamentary Approval for Arrest Will Automatically Report to Ethics Committee”

The National Assembly Speaker Park Kwan-yong said on December 14 that the power of the Ethics Committee of the National Assembly would soon be reinforced. Lawmakers who violate ethical codes, including parliamentary approval for arrest, will automatically be reported to the Ethics Committee and results will be delivered to a plenary session.

Mr. Park, who appeared in “Sunday Review,” which aired on KBS 1TV on Sunday Morning, said, “Parliamentary approval for arrest is a bill for processing, but it also belongs to the personal affairs of the legislator, and each party has its own interest on the issue, which makes it hard to plan on schedules. With such a procedure, the National Assembly will only lose its confidence, and therefore we have made a compulsory reform measure involving legal action.”

He added that the Chairman of Ethics Committee, which has not been a powerful position in the past, would be chosen for impartiality and just in character to strengthen the function of the committee body.

An official of the Assembly speaker’s office explained that Park’s remarks came out in view of long-term system reform, but not due to the referred bill of parliamentary approval for arrest.

Regarding the political reform legislation, Park said, “We need to find a way to detect illegal campaign fundraising tactics. I am working with the parties to pass bills on political funds within the year, as well as the three laws of political relations.”

Yeon-Wook Jung jyw11@donga.com