2024-07-04 14:41:09
When the ‘Marine Corps Special Prosecutor Act’ was put on the agenda for the plenary session on the 3rd, the People Power Party launched an unlimited debate (filibuster) to block the opposition-led vote.
Rep. Yoo Sang-beom of the People Power Party was the first to filibuster to block the special prosecution bill for Marines that was submitted to the plenary session that day.
Rep. Yoo’s speech, which began at around 3:40 p.m., has been ongoing for 1 hour and 30 minutes as of 5:10 p.m. This is followed by the discussion by Rep. Park Ju-min of the Democratic Party, Rep. Na Kyung-won of the People Power Party, and Rep. Shin Jang-sik of the Fatherland Innovation Party.
A filibuster is a system that allows members of the National Assembly to debate without time limits during a plenary session. They can legally and intentionally block the progress of a bill to prevent the majority party from pushing through a controversial bill.
The plenary session, which conducts unlimited debate under the National Assembly Act, continues its session without adjourning even at midnight, despite the principle of one meeting per day.
The debate can be concluded with the approval of at least three-fifths of the members present 24 hours after the submission of a motion by one-third of the members present. When the unlimited debate is concluded, the agenda submitted to the plenary session is put to a vote in the next session.
At 3:45 PM on the same day, immediately after Rep. Yoo Sang-beom began his debate, 169 people, including Democratic Party Rep. Park Sung-joon, submitted a motion to end the debate. An anonymous vote is expected to be held 24 hours later to decide whether to end the debate.
Unlimited debate in the National Assembly was revived about two years ago, when the People Power Party tried to pass the bill to separate the prosecution’s investigation and prosecution powers (partial amendment to the Prosecutors’ Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act) in 2022. At that time, Rep. Kim Woong of the People Power Party debated for 2 hours and 51 minutes, recording the longest debate among the four ruling and opposition parties who participated in the filibuster.
The People Power Party also announced a filibuster to block the Yellow Envelope Act and the three broadcasting laws in November of last year, but withdrew it right before the vote to prevent the impeachment motion against then-Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission Lee Dong-kwan from being voted on in the plenary session. Instead, they appealed to the unfairness of the Yellow Envelope Act and the three broadcasting laws through an online filibuster lasting about 15 hours.
Unlimited debate was stipulated in the Constitutional Assembly, but was abolished in 1973 during the Park Chung-hee regime. It was revived after 39 years with the introduction of the National Assembly Advancement Act in 2012.
The first filibuster record in our country belongs to the late President Kim Dae-jung. On April 20, 1964, then-opposition party member Kim gave a 319-minute (5 hours and 19 minutes) speech at the National Assembly plenary session to block the passage of the arrest warrant for Kim Jun-yeon, a member of the Liberty Democratic Party, and was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest speech in the National Assembly.
The record for the longest filibuster was held by former People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Hee-sook, who filibustered to block the voting on amendments to the National Intelligence Service Act and the Inter-Korean Relations Development Act in December last year. At the time, Rep. Yoon spoke for 12 hours and 47 minutes.
The first filibuster since the introduction of the National Assembly Advancement Act in 2012 was the filibuster against the Anti-Terrorism Act, which lasted 192 hours and 27 minutes from February 23 to March 2, 2016. At the time, 38 members of the opposition Democratic Party, Justice Party, and People’s Party participated. Former Democratic Party member Lee Jong-geol, who was the last to take the stage, spoke for 12 hours and 31 minutes.
The second is a filibuster to block the passage of the semi-proportional representation system (Public Official Election Act) from December 23 to 25, 2019, for 50 hours and 10 minutes, involving 15 members of the ruling and opposition parties. This filibuster holds the record for the first time in the world in which the pro-voting party participated in the debate, and it is also the first case in which the debate ended due to the end of the session.
Then, from December 27 to midnight on the 28th of the same year, 13 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties filibustered for 26 hours and 34 minutes to block the passage of the Public Prosecutor’s Office Act.
The fourth is a filibuster in which 21 members of the main opposition People Power Party and the Democratic Party participated for 89 hours and 5 minutes from December 9 to 14, 2020 (excluding the 16-hour recess due to COVID-19) to block the passage of the amendments to the Public Prosecutor’s Office Act, the National Intelligence Service Act, and the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act.
The fifth is recorded as the filibuster carried out by the People Power Party in 2022 against the Democratic Party’s attempt to pass the Prosecution Service Act.
(Seoul = News 1)
2024-07-04 14:41:09