Opposition parties in South Korea criticize the Democratic Party's rushed efforts to pass three administrative integration bills and demand a delay for further deliberation.
On the eve of a National Assembly meeting, four minor opposition parties, including the Innovation Party, criticized the Democratic Party's swift movement on three administrative integration bills, calling it a hasty approach. They issued a joint statement urging the Democratic Party to delay presenting the bills in order to address existing shortcomings. The Democratic Party, meanwhile, expressed intent to push forward with the legislation, emphasizing the importance of completing it during the upcoming temporary National Assembly session in February.
The opposition parties raised concerns that the bills would empower integrated local government heads without adequate checks from local councilors, claiming that mechanisms for citizen participation are poorly designed and would result in ineffectual governance. Additionally, they highlighted the entrenched power structures within the councils of Daegu-Gyeongbuk and Gwangju-Jeonnam, arguing that the current administrative integration proposals are insufficient to address these disparities and could exacerbate existing issues.
Moreover, 251 labor and civic organizations, along with representatives from five opposition parties, gathered in front of the National Assembly to demand a halt to fast-tracked discussions and called for a reassessment of the proposals from scratch. They argue that the bills contain excessive regulatory relaxations impacting environmental and labor protections and suggest that there has been inadequate consensus-building within the community regarding these significant changes. Representative Kwon Young-guk from the Justice Party criticized the approach, claiming it disregards resident autonomy and fundamental rights in favor of corporate interests.
