Attempts by the Special Committee on Political Reform of the National Assembly to increase the number of members eventually failed. Originally, the Special Committee on Political Reform proposed an electoral reform plan to increase the number of lawmakers from the current 300 to 350, but withdrew it following failing to overcome opposition. As it has been confirmed that public opinion on the increase in the number of members is extremely negative, discussions related to it are unlikely to come out for the time being.
As the discussion on the number of members of the National Assembly rose to the cutting board, many media outlets, including the Chosun Ilbo, began criticizing the special committee through editorials. It is argued that trying to increase the number of members in a situation where there is great distrust and opposition to the National Assembly is far from political reform. However, it is necessary to read these newspaper editorials. As the editorial says, it is unreasonable to dismiss the discussion on increasing the number of members of the National Assembly as just the selfishness of the political world. The proper number of parliamentarians should consider not only public opinion but also proportionality and representativeness.
Reducing the number of German parliamentarians, is it appropriate to enter Korean universities?
The media started criticizing the National Assembly, citing the case of Germany as an example. Germany recently reduced the number of members of the Bundestag from 736 to 630, but South Korea is claiming that it is busy increasing the number of members of the National Assembly. In an editorial on the 21st, the Seoul Economic Daily said, “Lee and opposition lawmakers must abandon their obsession with the number of Ui seats. Germany, which has the second largest number of parliamentarians in the world following China, also recently reduced the number of seats in the Bundestag from 736 to 630.”
On the same day, the Chosun Ilbo published an editorial <의원 수 스스로 줄인 독일 의회, 우리 국회선 절대 못 볼 일>“The fact that lawmakers reduced the number of lawmakers by 14.4% on their own to remove the bubble in the parliament is a reform of the National Assembly itself that the Korean people will never see.” The Chosun Ilbo said, “In the National Assembly, a ‘bipartisan meeting of political reform lawmakers’ was launched and started discussions.” The people’s strength leadership said,’There is no increase in the number of members,’ but there is a possibility that the opposition will push through numbers.”
This editorial quotes only simple numbers without considering the German reality. Germany adopts a mixed-member proportional representation system. The number of members of the National Assembly determined according to the Federal Election Act is 598 (299 constituencies and 299 proportional representatives), but corrective seats are allocated to ensure proportionality. In other words, Germany adjusted the maximum number of members of the National Assembly to 630 to prevent an excessive increase in amendment seats. It seems inappropriate to simply compare the situation in Korea and Germany, as in the editorials of the Chosun Ilbo and Seoul Economic Daily.
Maeil Business & Seoul Economic Daily Comparing Korea with the United States, which is a federal system
Maeil Economy on the 20th <특권은 놔두고 '의원 증원'만 혈안인 국회, 국민에 부끄럽지 않나> In an editorial, “The United States, the world’s most powerful country, has only 535 members, including 100 Senators and 435 House members, despite a population of 330 million. Moreover, the ‘productivity to remuneration’ of members of the National Assembly is almost the last among OECD countries,” he said. The Seoul Economic Daily also said, “The number of lawmakers in Korea is too high compared to the United States, which is regarding 1 in 630,000 at 1 in 170,000, so it needs to be reduced.”
However, criticism is raised that it is unreasonable to directly compare the situation in the United States and South Korea, where the federal system has successfully settled. Shin Yul, a professor of political science and diplomacy at Myongji University, said in a phone call with Media Today, “Because the United States is a federal system, it cannot be uniformly compared with Korea.”
Munhwa Ilbo editorial on the 20th <국회의원 50명 늘리자는 與野 야합, 국민을 뭘로 보나>They argued that raising the number of members of the National Assembly to more than 300 is trampling on the spirit of the Constitution. Munhwa Ilbo said, “If the number exceeds 300, the constitutional spirit of ‘more than 200 people’ is also trampled on. It is not that it does not matter whether it is 350 or 400, but the meaning of more than 200 people was clarified from the Constitutional Assembly on the purpose of ‘200 South Koreans and 100 North Koreans’, and since then all parliaments have respected it.”
However, as the Munhwa Ilbo argued, it is difficult to apply the standards for the May 10 general elections held in 1948 to the present. Kang Won-taek, a professor at Seoul National University, pointed out at a public hearing on electoral system reform held at the National Assembly in 2018 that at the time of the constitutional assembly, the population per member of the National Assembly was only 95,000. If the standards at that time were applied to the present, the number of members of the National Assembly should be 538.
The Joint Action for Political Reform also issued a statement on the 24th of last month, saying, “The need for an increase in the number of members of parliament is already widely agreed upon in the academic world.” He emphasized, “We need to publicize the issue of the number of members of the National Assembly with an attitude.”
Expansion of the number of members, negative public opinion
The fact that public opinion is negative is the main basis for the opposition to increasing the number of members of the National Assembly. The Seoul Shinmun said, “The election system reform proposed by the Special Committee on Political Reform of the National Assembly is a revision that is far from the will of the people.” ” he wrote.
It is clear that public opinion is negative. According to a public opinion poll on the number of members of the National Assembly announced by Gallup Korea on the 23rd, only 9% of respondents said that it is okay to increase the number of members. 57% of the respondents said that the number of parliamentarians should be reduced. Regarding this, Professor Shin Yul said, “It is natural that public opinion should not increase the number of members of the National Assembly.
However, if the question is changed, positive public opinion on the increase in the number of members increases slightly. When Gallup Korea asked, “Is it okay to increase the number of members of the National Assembly if the total budget for members of the National Assembly is frozen?”, 22% of the respondents agreed. Professor Shin said, “All lawmakers can do is to reduce their salary or travel expenses and ask for an increase in the number of members with the surplus money.” (Gallup Korea survey: The margin of error is ±3.1%p at the 95% confidence level. It was conducted through wired and wireless phone interviews, and the response rate was 8.4%. The survey period was from the 21st to the 23rd)
Assistant member A of a member of the National Assembly told Media Today that if the number of members cannot be increased, the expertise of the member of the National Assembly must be strengthened. Mr. A said, “There is a problem with the stability of members of the National Assembly.” Discussions on simply increasing or decreasing the number of members of the National Assembly may be superficial,” he said. Discussions on increasing the number of members of the National Assembly for political reform seem to end only with fiercely opposing editorials.