Members of the National Assembly received 12.85 million won a month’s salary the day before. The salary received for 52 days from May 30, when the 21st National Assembly opened, is equivalent to 22 million won. He attended the plenary session once to hear the speech of the representative of the negotiating group of the Minjoo Party floor leader Park Hong-geun, and he collected a lot of money. Without any failure to form the standing committee of the ruling and opposition parties, it is inevitable that the public will be outraged.
While the National Assembly is at a standstill, the overseas business trips of lawmakers seem to explode. It is said that there are nearly 60 lawmakers who have been or plan to go on business trips last month and this month, and applications are being applied one after another. It is worth pointing out that it is a foreign nature, given that the purpose of friendly exchange is abstract, and they are concentrated in North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Where is this indifference when the economic crisis is escalating and the people’s difficulties are aggravating?
It is not yesterday that our National Assembly was selected as a representative ‘high-cost, low-efficiency’ group. The remuneration of lawmakers as a percentage of national per capita income is 1.5 times higher than that of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. The number of assistants per legislator is nine (including one intern), twice that of other major countries with four to five members. US lawmakers have frozen their salaries for 13 years, and Japan cut salaries by 20% last year and this year to share the pain caused by the coronavirus. On the other hand, Korean lawmakers raised it for the fifth year in a row. After all, it is not unreasonable to argue that ‘no work, no pay’ is being applied as a ghost National Assembly is created from time to time and wages are received. Since the 18th general election in 2008, the opposition and opposition parties have regularly made the promise of ‘no work, no pay’ in every election, but it has been repeated.
The primary duty of the National Assembly member is to deliberate and enact legislation, and to ask and debate policies with the government. If you cannot fulfill this basic role, it is reasonable to return even a portion of your salary. At the same time, Rep. Jo Eun-hee of People’s Strength announced that she would return her salary. Even in the 18th and 20th National Assembly, there were lawmakers who returned their salaries or donated their salaries when the opening was delayed. However, it does not stop at the individual member’s level, it is important to prepare and practice institutional arrangements.