Ruling party delays push to pass bill halting criminal trials for president-elect
The ruling Democratic Party withdrew its plan Tuesday to hold a plenary session of the National Assembly this week to pass contentious bills, including one aimed at halting criminal trials for a president-elect.
A parliamentary plenary session will not be held on Thursday and various bills at issue will not be dealt with this week, DP floor spokesperson Noh Jong-myeon told reporters at the National Assembly.
"Once the new leadership is in place, we are going to move forward with the legislation at full speed, and what happens after that is up to the new leadership to determine with its members," he said.
The move delays the ruling party's plan to vote on the bills this week, passing on the decision to the new floor leadership, set to take office on June 13.
Last month, the DP unilaterally passed the revision to the Criminal Procedure Act during a subcommittee meeting of the legislation and judiciary committee despite protest from the People Power Party.
The PPP has strongly opposed the bill, claiming the bill was specifically introduced to favor President Lee Jae-myung.
The DP had initially planned to convene the plenary session to pass three contentious broadcasting bills.
The bills call for amending the Broadcasting Act, the Foundation for Broadcast Culture Act and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act. The proposed changes aimed to alter the governance structure of public broadcasters -- KBS, MBC and EBS -- by significantly increasing the number of their board directors and granting media and broadcasting associations, as well as related professional organizations, the right to recommend board members. (Yonhap)
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