The Democratic Party of Korea has decided to postpone action on a special counsel bill targeting alleged fabricated indictments until after the parliamentary audit of government agencies, dropping plans to bring it to the National Assembly floor on Oct. 1. The party said it would revisit the timing after gathering more views from within its ranks. Instead, it will put the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Act on the Improvement of Urban Areas and Residential Environments on the Oct. 1 agenda, focusing on bills tied to household livelihoods.
Jeon Eun-soo, the party's floor spokesperson, told reporters after a general meeting of lawmakers on Sept. 29 that on the special counsel bill, "everyone agrees on the need for it." She added, "But on the timing, we will gather views within the party and look at it after the audit."
No specific date has been set. Jeon said there had been no open debate on the special counsel bill at the meeting, and when asked when it would be handled after the audit, she said, "There was no such discussion."
The party's floor leadership instead agreed to table the industrial safety act and the urban redevelopment act on Oct. 1. "What the leadership said should be tabled were those two bills, the industrial safety act and the urban redevelopment act," Jeon said. "It is to show more earnestly that the goal of this audit is to go all in on livelihood issues."
The amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health Act centers on tougher sanctions for workplaces with repeated serious industrial accidents. The Democratic Party version would impose fines of up to 5% of operating profit on companies where a serious accident killed three or more workers within the past year. The People Power Party has proposed a revised version capping such fines at 5 billion won, arguing the level is excessive, according to sources.
The urban redevelopment act is aimed at speeding up improvement projects such as redevelopment of districts and rebuilding of aging apartment complexes. It includes measures to expand housing supply by easing rules such as floor area ratios for these projects, and the rival parties have differed over how far to ease floor area ratios for private-sector projects. The Democratic Party views the bill as a livelihood and housing supply measure and plans to pass it at the Oct. 1 session.
A clash with the People Power Party is expected if the opposition mounts a filibuster. "The People Power Party will probably try to filibuster, but we have to pass these two bills for people's livelihoods," Jeon said. "There are a total of 60 to 70 other bills slated for action. The finalized list will be settled the day before the session or on the day itself."
The Democratic Party also reaffirmed that it would treat the parliamentary audit beginning Oct. 6 as a "livelihood audit." "We intend to conduct an audit that goes all in on livelihood issues," Jeon said. "We will work hard with an attitude of empathy for people's daily lives and their hardships."
