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Democratic Party lawmakers during a meeting of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee on Dec. 8. (photo pool)

A bill that will revise an act setting up an independent agency for investigating corruption by high-ranking officials passed the South Korean National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the morning of Dec. 9.

Despite its attempts to block the bill, the opposition People Power Party (PPP) was helpless against the ruling Democratic Party’s superior numbers. The revised act would ease the requirements for nominating the head of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO), effectively neutralizing the PPP‘s veto power. The bill is expected to be submitted to the floor of the National Assembly on Dec. 9, the final day of the current legislative session.

After deliberation by the Agenda Coordination Committee (ACC), Legislation and Judiciary Committee (LJC) chair and Democratic Party member Yun Ho-jung passed the CIO bill after a full meeting of the LJC held at 11 am on Dec. 8. Ten Democratic Party lawmakers and one from the Open Democratic Party (ODP) voted in favor. Lawmakers from the PPP sought to object to the bill, but the matter was put to a vote after Yun stated it was “not the time for discussion” and put an end to the debate. During this process, a physical altercation reportedly took place between Yun and PPP lawmaker Kim Do-eup, who attempted to take away his gavel.

A meeting of the ACC had been convened the day before at the request of the PPP, but the CIO bill was passed after just an hour in a closed meeting. The ACC is a subcommittee set up to deliberate on matters where large differences of opinion exist between the ruling and opposition parties, and meets upon the request of at least one third of the standing committee’s registered members. The ACC consists of equal numbers from both sides (six apiece), and a two-thirds majority is required for a vote to pass. On this occasion, the three members of the opposition party were joined by lawmaker Choi Kang-wook of the ODP, which had previously fancied itself a “sister party” of the Democratic Party, thereby bringing the “game” to an unexciting end.

The CIO bill purports to ease the requirements for nominating and appointing a CIO head from “at least six of seven” to a two-thirds majority, and if a party fails to select a nominee within 10 days, the speaker of the National Assembly will nominate a notable academic. The eligibility criteria for CIO prosecutors will also be lowered from “10 years or more as a lawyer or five years or more practical experience in a court or investigative body” to “seven years or more as a lawyer.” As a result, it will now be easier for the Democratic Party to engage in their preferred practice of appointing lawyers who are not former prosecutors to the positions of CIO head and prosecutor.

An amendment to the Commercial Act, one of the “three Acts for a fair economy,” was also passed by the LJC on the same day after deliberation by the ACC. This amendment contains the “3% rule,” which places a 3% cap on the proportion of voting rights that majority shareholders and persons with special relationships (such as subsidiaries) may own when a company’s auditors and outside directors are selected separately. However, the amendment changes the 3% rule such that majority shareholders and persons with special relationships are each able to hold 3% of voting rights, a more lenient standard than the previous bill which applied the 3% restriction to the total voting rights held by these parties in combination.

The LJC also passed amendments to several other statutes the same day, including laws that prohibit the historical distortion of the Gwangju Democratization Movement and the dissemination of anti-North propaganda across the inter-Korean border. It also included a law for reforming the national police that gives more autonomy to local police branches.

By Lee Ji-hye, staff reporters

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