What we want 21st National Assembly to do during this lame-duck session

The National Assembly of South Korea has lately entered into a lame-duck session. The term, which literally means a duck walking in a limp, originated from American politics. It refers to the period from the mid-term election in November until an incoming Congress takes office in January. Here in South Korea, this lame-duck session began on April 11 after the April 10 general elections took place and will end by the time the 22nd National Assembly takes on the job on May 30. Indeed, there seems to be an air of awkwardness and hecticness in the legislative body mixed with those who have survived the competition and those who haven’t. Around half the 21st National Assembly members, or 149 out of 297 lawmakers, have made it to the next session.

As the general elections ended with the landslide victory of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, it showed quite a different attitude from the ruling party's. Puffed up with pride over its victory, the main opposition pushed forward with the legislation of controversial bills being directly sent to a parliamentary plenary meeting. It put five bills, including the revision on grain management, to the National Assembly’s plenary meeting, which was discarded after President Yoon Suk Yeol exercised his veto right for the first time. Likewise, it took such unilateral action for the Franchise Business Act and the bill regarding those with distinguished contributions to democracy on April 23. The two bills that passed the standing committees only took 20 and 35 minutes, respectively.

Bruised with the worst defeat ever, the ruling People Power Party is apparently off balance on the path. When the grain bill passed the standing committee, PPP members did not attend the meeting. “Four out of the seven parliamentary committee members for agriculture, food, rural affairs, oceans, and fisheries were defeated in the general elections. Otherwise, they would have fought hard against the bill's passage,” said a ruling party insider, lamenting that the outgoing members can’t be enthusiastic about the meeting. Only 13 days after the ruling party lost the elections did it hold its first meeting for strategies on the floor. On that day, the main opposition signaled that it would pass the bill honoring pro-democracy activists. Nevertheless, the ruling party’s hands were tied at the meeting in the morning.

Unlike the threatening pace at which the 21st National Assembly has handled controversial bills, there has been little progress in processing the revised national pension bill, which decides the country’s fate, over the session. Back in July 2022, the ruling and opposition parties agreed to form a special committee to complete the work of reforming the national pension system on the National Assembly’s end. There have only been 12 meetings held over the past two years. The special committee in question had a meeting on Tuesday, even during the lame-duck session, but it only ended up with all the stark differences in their opinions. However, that day, the National Assembly’s special committee on pension reform submitted the final results of a public opinion survey over the “Pay More, Receive More” plan focusing on income security to the National Assembly. It is still uncertain how to use the results of the survey of 500 citizens’ representatives as part of a project worth 2.5 billion won taxpayers’ money.

As many as 16,300 bills are destined to be discarded after the 21st National Assembly closes. Obviously, some of the pending bills may have been submitted, with little legal review, by those who only felt pressured to do their job. Even with the lame-duck session hitting the National Assembly, the members must pick and choose what needs passing. For example, it has been three and a half years since the standing committee left unaddressed a revised bill to the Distribution Industry Development Act to resolve inconveniences in small and medium-sized cities where dawn delivery service is not available. However, the ruling and opposition parties alike are not even interested in discussing the issue.

Once a lame-duck session is nearing in American politics, lawmakers agree to put aside political pressure from parties’ principles and political competition between conservatives and liberals and work together to pass historically significant or groundbreaking bills, given that the election results have already come out anyway. They are committed to acting based on their belief systems and fulfilling their responsibilities as part of the legislative body. Some well-known bills are processed during the lame-duck session, such as the bill to allow LGBTs to serve in the armed forces or the American Data Privacy and Protection Act. What we want from the 21st National Assembly is not to leave a historic mark but to show its responsibilities until it leaves office.