Last-minute disagreements on public service pension reforms between South Korea’s main parties delayed a full session at the legislature Wednesday afternoon, holding off voting on dozens of economy-related bills.
The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy’s objection to President Park Geun-hye’s nomination of Park Sang-ok as Supreme Court Justice also convinced lawmakers to postpone the day’s plenary session.
The impasse left dozens of bills awaiting plenary approval. They included a draft law aiming to legalize crowdfunding, another legalizing images of tobacco’s side-effects on cigarette packs, and a bill allowing large corporations to engage in subcontracting, among others.
Floor leaders continued 11th-hour negotiations over the public service pension and Justice nominee Park.
The NPAD demanded that the revised texts of the public service pension bill should specifically state that the income-replacement rate of the national pension would be raised to 50 percent, from its current rate of 40 percent.
The income-replacement rate is the figure multiplied to a pensioner’s average lifetime monthly income.
The governing Saenuri Party refused, stating any specific statistic should be finalized during later talks among lawmakers and pension experts.
Over the weekend, the rival parties agreed on a set of reform measures for the civil servants’ pension to raise the contribution rate of public service pensions from 7 percent to 9 percent in the next five years, while reducing entitlements from 1.9 percent to 1.7 percent in stages over 20 years.
The two sides also agreed to raising the income-replacement rate of the national pension, but faced opposition from Cheong Wa Dae due to a fear about an increased burden on taxpayers.
“I don’t want to talk much right now,” Saenuri Party Rep. Kim Moo-sung said as he came out from a closed-door meeting among Saenuri lawmakers earlier in the day.
“But it’s been weeks and months since we started talks on the public service pension reforms,” Kim added in apparent frustration. “And (party leaders) signed an agreement (last Saturday). Annulling this agreement is nonsense. I trust that we are politically mature enough to know this.”
The NPAD also demanded that the Saenuri Party take back its support for Justice nominee Park. The NPAD has accused the former prosecutor of actively participating in the alleged cover-up of the torture death of Park Jong-chul, a student protester under police custody, in January 1987.
But National Assembly Speaker Rep. Chung Ui-hwa urged the opposition to express their objection through “the legislative process.”
“The opposition is free to vote against Park’s nomination,” Chung said. “If you are against his appointment, convince the (Saenuri Party) to vote against him,” he said in a meeting with NPAD leaders Monday.
A Supreme Court Justice nominee must receive Assembly approval, but the Saenuri Party’s majority would allow it to unilaterally approve Park’s appointment. The ruling party holds 160 seats in the unicameral 298-seat parliament.
By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)
