Yoon considers to veto opposition-led grain bill

Mar 27, 2023, 08:42 am

		0
President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, March 21, 2023./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Kim Na-ri

Attention is focused on whether President Yoon Suk-yeol will exercise his right to demand the National Assembly reconsider a proposed amendment to the Grain Management Act, which was passed unilaterally by the main opposition Democratic Party (DP).

According to political community on Sunday, the president is reportedly considering to veto the revision to the Grain Management Act, that requires the government to purchase surplus rice from farmers if there is excess production of price falls, which was approved by the opposition bloc in the National Assembly last Thursday.

Yoon is likely to veto the bill considering that he has expressed opposition against the bill several times, citing an an anticipated waste of the state budget, and that Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Chung Hwang-keun and the ruling People Power Party (PPP) have proposed him to veto.

A key presidential official said, “We need a legal review by the Ministry of Justice, and when it is completed, the revision needs to be discussed at the Cabinet meeting.” The president is expected to decide whether to veto the revision at a Cabinet meeting on April 4 after hearing opinions from related ministries.

If Yoon vetoes the revision, it will be the first time in about 7 years that a president vetoes parliamentary legislation since then-President Park Geun-hye vetoed a revision to the National Assembly Act in May 2016. In this case, the political situation is expected to be more strained. There are concerns that the legislative function of the National Assembly will be virtually paralyzed as the vicious cycle of the opposition party’s enforcement and the president’s veto over controversial bills is inevitable under the current situation of the DP holding the Assembly’s majority.

In addition, a bill on enacting a separate act for nurses, a revision of the Broadcasting Act and other law revisions were decided to be voted as plenary session agendas. Also, the DP plans to strengthen its offensive against the government to overcome Lee Jae-myung’s judicial risks by seeking to directly table the so-called “Yellow Envelope Act” aimed at amending articles of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act to limit companies from demanding compensation from labor unions that stage strikes.

For this reason, some in the ruling party criticize that the opposition party is inducing Yoon’s exercise of veto to add political pressure on the president.

#Yoon Suk-yeol #grain bill #Grain Management Act #veto