October 18 Legislative Report: Rebuilding Korea Party Deploys All Members to Budget Committee

Seo Kyeong-hwan, a lawmaker of the Rebuilding Korea Party, is simultaneously serving on the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts and the Education Committee.

According to the National Assembly's open data, Seo Kyeong-hwan of the 22nd National Assembly has been appointed as a member of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts while also serving on the Education Committee. Given that Assembly members typically serve on a single standing committee, Seo is holding seats on both a standing committee — Education — and a special committee — Budget and Accounts. Since the Budget Committee's de facto influence grows every year during the second-half budget review, Seo is likely to expand his voice on both education budgeting and education policy legislation.

Rebuilding Korea Party Mobilizes Members Across Two Committees

Seo is not alone in this arrangement. Public data shows that many Rebuilding Korea Party members — including Shin Dong-ki, Ko A-ram, Min So-young, Seon Jong-pil, Ko Ki-uk, Cho Jae-heon, Choi Wi-ji, Hwang Dae-hoon, and Dong Jeong-min — are simultaneously assigned to the Education Committee and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts. It is interpreted as a strategy by a minor party to maintain influence over the budget review, the year's biggest legislative event, despite its limited number of seats. Because small parties with modest negotiating-group status lack standing committee seats in absolute terms, they double up personnel on committees that become seasonally crucial, such as the Budget Committee.

Rep. Dong Jeong-min has a track record of proposing education-related bills, meaning this dual-role structure could serve as a substantive intersection linking education legislation and budgeting — since drafting a bill and securing the money to fund it can proceed at the same time within the same party and the same committee.

Education Budget Review as a Political Lever?

The National Assembly's focus at this juncture is rapidly narrowing to the budget and constitutional amendment talks. On the 16th, at the 47th anniversary ceremony of the Busan-Masan Democratic Uprising in Busan, President Lee Jae-myung said the spirit of the uprising and the May 18 Democratic Movement should be enshrined in the preamble of the Constitution, adding, "Once again, I ask the National Assembly to promptly begin gathering public opinion and fostering rational debate on constitutional revision." If the Assembly formally enters constitutional amendment discussions, standing committee schedules and budget review timelines will come under pressure simultaneously, and the burden on lawmakers serving on both committees is expected to grow.

Ruling-opposition conflict is another direct variable in legislative trends. The People Power Party is strongly pushing back after Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok formally launched discussions on impeaching Chief Justice Cho Hee-de. On the 16th, the PPP responded that "the moment an impeachment bill is filed, the people will cry out for 'the impeachment of Lee Jae-myung.'" If the feud between the parties over the judiciary intensifies, cooperative legislation at the committee level — especially budget negotiation — could stall.

What Cross-Party Votes Reveal About the Assembly

Recent plenary vote results lay bare the fractures within the 22nd National Assembly. On the partial revision bill to the Special Act on Rural Community Improvement passed on October 1, the Democratic Party recorded 86 votes in favor and 16 against. Sixteen members — including Kim Hyun, Jung Il-young, Cho Seung-rae, Jung Chung-rae, Moon Dae-rim, Park Jung-hyun, Kim Young-hwan, and Park Ji-won — voted against the party line. It signals that even within the ruling party, interests diverge sharply along regional bases and policy lines.

On the same day, in the vote on the partial revision bill to the Emergency Medical Services Act (substitute bill), 10 People Power Party members — including Park Soo-young, Park Jung-ha, Lee So-hee, Park Chung-kwon, Lee Sang-hwi, Kim Tae-kyu, Lee Jong-bae, and Choi Eun-seok — broke with the party to vote in favor. As gaps in emergency medical care have grown into a tangible public concern, district-level public opinion likely took precedence over party lines in the medical-related vote. Conversely, on the rural community improvement special account bill, the PPP recorded 4 votes in favor and 40 against, with the overwhelming majority — excluding Kwon Young-se and Lee Man-hee — voting no.

On the partial revision bill to the Broadcasting Act, three members — Lee Jin-sook, Kim Min-jeon, and Choi Soo-jin — broke ranks, while on the Eco-Friendly Agriculture and Fisheries Promotion Act substitute bill, three members — Han Ki-ho, Song Eon-seok, and Lee Jin-sook — did the same. Some, like Rep. Lee Jin-sook, were confirmed to have repeatedly crossed party lines across multiple bills. The tally is based on the number of named lawmakers, so it may not exactly match the actual scale of defections, but it is clear that in both major parties, party logic and individual members' political calculus collide on a routine basis.

A Minor Party's Calculation and the Assembly's Path Forward

Against this landscape, the Rebuilding Korea Party's strategy of concentrating its members on certain committees actually looks rational. While the two dominant parties pour energy into internal rifts and hard-line confrontation, the minor party has secured two substantive levers — education and the budget — with a small number of seats. The education budget is a massive annual outlay running into the tens of trillions of won, offering no small room for negotiation leverage within the Budget Committee.

Committee seats are, however, only the starting point of influence. If constitutional revision talks gain momentum, discussions on the Constitution's education provisions — handled by the Education Committee — and the Budget Committee's review will accelerate in parallel, and whether the minor party can actually wield the casting vote in that process will be the thing to watch. Committee assignments are already done; what remains is what gets produced from those seats.