What happened on July 22, 2009?

9:10 AM

: The head of the GNP party, Sangsoo Ahn, announces that the parties could not reach an agreement on the Media Law bills. Ahn asks the Speaker Hyeong-oh Kim to bring the bills before the congress. (Usually you have to submit a bill to the appropriate congress committee first, and it takes a while until a bill is brought before the full congress. But in urgent cases, the Speaker can forward a bill without going through the committee.)

9:15 AM

:Around 100 representatives of the GNP party occupy the podium area.

9:20 AM

: The Minju (Democratic) party blocked the doors of the congress in order to stop Speaker Kim from entering. Thirty representatives and 50 workers from Minju (Democratic) party protest in the main hall at the same time.

10:50 AM

: Speaker Kim tables 4 bills including 3 'Media Law'-related bills (Newspaper Law, Broadcast Law, and IPTV Law) with his authority.

Sometime in the morning

: Scuffles take place between workers + secretaries of the Minju party and the congressional police force.

1:50 PM

: Clash occurs between representatives of the GNP party and representatives and secretaries of Minju party.

2:15 PM

: 200 media union members protest in front of the congress clashes with police while trying to enter the congress building.

3:30 PM

: Speaker pro tempore Yoonsung Lee enters the meeting hall with 20 representatives from the GNP party.

3:38 PM

: Speaker pro tempore commences the meeting and brings police force into the meeting hall.

3:57~4:10 PM

: Three 'Media Law' related bills are passed.

[translated from Yonhap news]

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What happened between 3:57 PM and 4:10 PM?

There are 294 congressmen. On July 22, there were 145 of them at the congress.

There is a quorum required to open a session, requiring a minimum of 1/5 of the total congress members (59) to be present. It was reached and the session was convened at 3:57PM.

Soon, the calling and the closing of the vote was officiated by the Speaker pro tempore. The numbers were shown on the board and he found that the number who participated in the vote was only 145. A separate quorum is required for voting: more than 50% of the congress members, or 148. He announced the vote to be void.

(The congress screen showing the number of total representatives, present representatives, voted for, voted against, abstention)

(The Korean congress is equipped with an electronic voting system. You can read a bill on the computer screen, and click or touch the screen for 'present' and 'vote'. You can change your decision as many times as necessary until the voting is closed.)

When can voting be announced void?

1. If a session is dismissed because a quorum for voting is not reached.
2. If voting begins but less than 50% of congress members cast a vote, and the voting is canceled before it is announced to have been closed.

(Once voting is called and closed, you can't claim it 'invalid'. It's either 'passed' or 'not passed'.

I think what happened is that the Speaker pro tempore saw more than 59 people in the meeting hall and opened the session without counting the total number of congressmen who were present. In the Korean congress, as far as I know, it is not necessary to confirm if a quorum for voting is reached. Voting can be called and closed. If it is found that a quorum is reached when the result is shown, then whatever decision made there is valid.)

This is the most controversial part in the procedure. The GNP party claims that the voting was invalid so a re-vote was appropriate. But the opposition parties claim that it was not invalid, but was instead 'not passed' or voted down.

When can a measure be declared to be 'not passed' or 'voted down' after the votes have been counted?

1. If more than 50% of the congressmen participate in voting, but the measure gains less than 50% of the votes.
2. If less than 50% of the congressmen cast a vote.

To remind you, in the Korean congress, as far as I know, it is not necessary to confirm if a quorum for voting is reached before voting is called. Voting can be called and closed. If it is found that a quorum is reached when the result is shown, then whatever decision made there is valid.

Since the voting was closed and the result was shown on the screen with only 145 congress members participating in the voting, the bill should have been declared 'not passed'.

However, the Speaker pro tempore declared it was void and called for a re-vote. Then, more representatives from GNP party came in and the Newspaper Law bill (one of the 3 Media Law bills) are passed with 153 congressmen present.

Why did the Speaker pro tempore declare it was 'void'? The head of the parliamentary committee, Jong-Hu Lee explained a few days later that the Speak pro tempore misheard him asking to 'encourage (jong-yong) voting' as 'close (jong-ryo) voting', therefore there must have been some people who couldn't vote. (The word 'jong-yong' is not very often used.) But, the real reason is that once a bill is 'not passed', it cannot be tabled for voting again during the same session. The GNP party and Myungbak Lee administration could not wait until next session.

Representatives of Minju party protested against the Speak pro tempore's call for a re-vote. They tried to stop representatives of GNP party from voting. The GNP party fought back to vote and voted for other representatives (read below). After the Speaker pro tempore proclaimed all 4 bills were passed and the dismissed the congress, the opposition parties remained and protested.

Another controversy is about substitute votes.

It turned out that the Speaker casted his vote for the bills even though he was not present in the meeting hall. Also Geunhye Park, Kyung-won Nah and more representatives from the GNP party did. Some GNP party members also appeared voted on their computer screen when they stayed in the podium area.

It was found that at least 34 representatives changed their decision at least twice (from yes to yes, from no to yes, or from yes to no. It gets counted only once), mostly from no to yes. One person turned out changed his/her decision 24 times.

Before the voting, there was no discussion, explanation, or Q&A which help representatives make the right decision. Many of the GNP party members didn't and don't know what they voted for.