Reform bills fast-tracking dysfunction in South Korea

Abstract

A political collision over fast-tracking reform bills in South Korea is stirring anger. Over 1.7 million citizens have signed [1] a petition calling for the dissolution of the right-wing conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP), which is opposed to fast-tracking what the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and three allied minor parties call ‘reform bills’. Around another 300,000 citizens have signed a separate petition to disband the DP, claiming that it has prompted the current political chaos. They blame the DP for disregarding the LKP when ramming the reform bills through potentially illegal and irregular means, undermining the principle of parliamentary consensus, for its own political interests.