Nov. 14 Legislative Report: Rebuilding Korea Party Concentrates Manpower in Standing Committees
The activities of Rep. Kang In-gu of the Rebuilding Korea Party, who serves on both the Education Committee and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, have emerged as a decisive variable in the legislative landscape of the 22nd National Assembly.
According to public records, Rep. Kang is a member of both the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts and the Education Committee, and has carried out bill sponsorship activities as a member of the Rebuilding Korea Party in the 22nd National Assembly. Fellow party members Reps. Kang Young-ae, Moon Chang-yong, Kim Bo-hyun, and Lee Hee-jin also serve on both committees, revealing the Rebuilding Korea Party's strategy of concentrating manpower in the education and budget fields relative to its size as an in-house negotiating bloc. Rep. Kang Young-ae, drawing on her background as an elementary school teacher, held a briefing session with education circles and participated in sponsoring a revision bill related to improving teachers' status, while Rep. Lee Hee-jin took part in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee's review of a Public Official Election Act revision and joined the re-sponsorship of the Special Prosecutor Act for the death of Private Chae.
Minor Parties' Legislative Influence Amid the Plenary Session Vacuum
Behind the attention on these committee activities lies the paralysis of the National Assembly. In the aftermath of the forced passage of the Special Prosecutor Act on Fabricated Prosecutions, the People Power Party boycotted the Assembly schedule and staged outdoor protests, causing plenary sessions to collapse. An official at the National Assembly Speaker's office said, "The Speaker's judgment was that a bipartisan agreement must come first," leaving the question of resuming plenary sessions to negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties. Even after requests to convene from Democratic Party floor leader Han Byung-do and Senior Deputy Floor Leader Chun Joon-ho, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik maintained that he would not open a plenary session without bipartisan agreement.
The direct victim of the plenary session vacuum is livelihood legislation. Follow-up legislation to last year's September 7 housing supply measures and this year's January 29 supply measures — the three housing supply revitalization bills, namely the Urban and Residential Environment Improvement Act, the Urban Redevelopment Promotion Act, and the Yongsan Park Special Act — has been stalled. In this situation, budget and bill reviews at the standing committee level have instead become a space where minority party members' influence grows. Because committee membership is small, each vote carries relatively greater weight.
Party-Line Defections Reveal Internal Fissures
The results of the October 1 plenary session vote show the internal fractures within both parties in numbers. On the partial amendment to the Special Account Act for Agricultural and Fishing Villages, the Democratic Party recorded 86 votes in favor and 16 against. Sixteen members, including Moon Dae-rim, Park Ji-won, Jung Chung-rae, and Min Hong-chul, broke with the party line. Since regional interests over how rural funding is managed directly affect voting behavior, the backlash from lawmakers representing rural districts is interpreted as having become organized.
The same day, the People Power Party effectively opposed the bill with 4 votes in favor and 40 against, but four members including Kim Yong-tae, Kwon Young-se, and Lee Man-hee voted in favor. By contrast, on the alternative bill to partially amend the Emergency Medical Services Act, the People Power Party split nearly evenly, with 14 in favor and 10 against. Members with ties to the medical community, such as Yun Young-seok, Park Chung-kwon, and Choi Eun-seok, are seen to have differed over medical policy direction. Three members including Choi Soo-jin and Lee Jin-sook defected on the broadcasting law amendment, and three including Song Eon-seok and Han Ki-ho opposed the alternative bill on fostering eco-friendly agriculture and fisheries — both cited as cases where party lines failed to withstand regional and interest-group pressure in the broadcasting and agriculture sectors.
The structural cause of the succession of party-line defections is the calculation between discipline and votes. The fact that the list of defecting members includes many senior and district-based lawmakers distant from the party leadership shows that firm enforcement of party lines has become difficult ahead of the next election.
The Competition to Enlarge the Pie in Budget Review
A different kind of conflict sits in the meeting room of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts where Rep. Kang In-gu works. Requests from each standing committee to increase the 16.2 trillion-won Future Response Fund have exceeded 25 trillion won. An analysis of data from 11 standing committees by the Dong-A Ilbo found that six committees, including the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee; the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee; and the Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee, demanded increases of 25.48 trillion won across 54 programs. As cash-support programs for youth and rural communities and increases for district-based projects pile up, concerns are emerging even within the ruling party that the Future Fund could be transformed into populist largesse ahead of the 2028 general election. People Power Party floor leader Jung Jeom-sik's order for a full withdrawal of increase requests across all standing committees reflects the same logic.
Ruling-opposition confrontation is also severe. The National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee failed even to vote on its jurisdictional budget bill due to disagreements over Honam semiconductor support and the Future Fund. Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok emphasized, "We will ensure the Mega Region Special Act passes within the year," but even the formation of a special committee is delayed over disagreements on labor exemptions to the 52-hour workweek.
The Remaining Task for Minority Party Members
In the end, the environment facing Rep. Kang In-gu and his Rebuilding Korea Party colleagues is dual. In committee, they have opportunities to exercise real legislative capacity through education and budget reviews, but with plenary sessions stalled over ruling-opposition confrontation, it is hard to button the final button of their achievements. With defection votes repeating in both parties' infighting, an increase competition exceeding 25 trillion won, and stalled livelihood bills stacking up, what voters demand of the National Assembly is not grand rhetoric but the immediate normalization of its operations. As floor leader Han Byung-do said, "Just come to the National Assembly right in front of you" — the place where legislation moves must return to being one where ballots, not microphones, matter. Even if plenary sessions resume, if voting fractures deepen, minority parties' coalition maneuvering is expected to become the key to passing bills. Which party's votes Rep. Kang's bills win on their way to fruition will be the point to watch going forward.
