Rep. Jeong Jeom-sig, floor leader of the opposition People Power Party, second from left, and Rep. Han Byung-do, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party, second from right, shake hands after agreeing to launch a special counsel probe over the ballot shortage during a gathering held at the National Assembly in western Seoul on July 21.JOINT PRESS CORPS
Korea's rival parties broke a seven-week deadlock Tuesday as they agreed to launch a special counsel probe into the ballot shortages that marred the June 3 local elections.
Rep. Han Byung-do, floor leader of the Democratic Party (DP), and his People Power Party (PPP) counterpart, Rep. Jeong Jeom-sig, reached the agreement to pass the motion during an extraordinary parliamentary session this month.
At the center of the deal is a committee formed by public recommendation tasked with appointing the special counsel. The committee will have six members, with each party naming three.
The Korean Bar Association and the Association of Korean Law Schools will each submit three candidates for the special counsel post to the committee. The two parties will jointly choose two finalists. The president will then appoint one of the two finalists as the special counsel.
Both parties plan to seek approval from their respective caucuses before moving ahead with the legislation. Details on the investigation's scope, staffing and duration are to be worked out later.
Ballots ran out at 50 polling stations during the local elections, temporarily halting voting at 22 sites and prompting National Election Commission Chairman Roh Tae-ak to resign.
A draft of special counsel probe bill over the National Election Commission submitted by the ruling Democratic Party on July 9YONHAP
The two parties had been deadlocked over how the special counsel should be chosen. About two weeks ago, the PPP proposed creating the committee as a compromise, while the DP continued to push for nomination by a third party.
The DP reversed course Tuesday and accepted its rival’s proposal.
"We proposed an idea of the public recommendation committee because we had no clear way out of the deadlock," a PPP lawmaker, who wished to stay anonymous, said. "We didn't expect the DP to accept it so suddenly."
Another DP lawmaker representing the party's floor leadership said the party agreed because it believed "the election commission controversy could no longer be left unresolved."
The breakthrough has also raised hopes that the two parties can resolve a separate, longer-running dispute over the formation of the National Assembly's standing committees, a process now 54 days past the legal deadline.
A draft of special counsel probe bill over the ballot shortages submitted by the opposition People Power Party on June 9NEWS1
"If our caucus approves the special counsel bill, we will also have an update on the committee formation issue," the PPP's Jeong told reporters on Tuesday. "Because the bill must be passed during the July session, we plan to begin talks on forming the committees as soon as the caucus gives its approval."
On June 30, the DP unilaterally elected the chairs of 11 standing committees without the PPP’s participation. The opposition party, in response, has boycotted all National Assembly proceedings and demanded that control of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, traditionally given to the opposition party, be handed over.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
