Two ”unprecedented” incidents surrounding the 22nd National Assembly of South Korea

On the 2nd of this month, an opening ceremony was held in South Korea to announce the start of the regular National Assembly, as well as the start of the 22nd National Assembly, which is made up of lawmakers elected in the general election in April. The term of the 22nd National Assembly will begin on May 30.
The opening ceremony was held three months after the initial announcement, making it the latest opening ceremony since democratization in 1987. Korean media reported it as a "late opening ceremony."
President Yoon Seok-yeol did not attend. The reason why the incumbent president did not attend the opening ceremony of the National Assembly is because the government system adopted in South Korea in 1988, the "Sixth Republic", based on the 1987 Declaration of Democratization, has been in place since then.
The Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo reported, "The 22nd National Assembly will record two disgraceful events: the longest period of time for a 'late' opening session, and the first time that the president has been absent." What was behind this?
South Korea held a general election in April this year, and the results showed that the ruling party, the People Power Party, won 108 seats, while the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, won 175 seats. This resulted in a major defeat for the People Power Party, which supports the Yoon administration.
Although the opposition parties did not reach the 200 seats required to pass a bill to amend the constitution or impeach the president, they were able to continue to hold the reins of power in the political arena.
The term of the 22nd National Assembly began on May 30. The opening ceremony was originally scheduled for July 5, but due to conflict between the ruling and opposition parties, it was not held, and three months have passed since the start of the term.
In July last year, suspicions arose that the presidential office and the Ministry of National Defense had exerted pressure on the investigation into an accident in which a marine died at a flood site.
In order to have a special prosecutor independent of the government investigate the allegations, the government began to push through the Special Prosecutor Appointment Act (Special Prosecutor Act). This led to a fierce clash with the ruling party, the People's Power Party, which opposed the move.
The People's Power declared that it would not attend the opening ceremony. The ceremony was postponed indefinitely, and was finally held on the 2nd of this month, when the regular Diet session began, in the form of the "Opening Ceremony of the Regular Diet Session" and the "Opening Ceremony of the 22nd Diet Session."
At the opening ceremony, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik apologized, saying, "I'm sorry to the people for the delay in holding the opening ceremony," and "As speaker, I feel a heavy responsibility." The opening ceremony was held, but Yoon
The president was absent. In an unusual turn of events, Speaker Woo said, "You can't achieve results in running national affairs without respecting the National Assembly," implicitly criticizing President Yoon.
Meanwhile, Jeong Jin-seok, chief of the presidential secretariat, said at a morning meeting on the 4th that all staff in the presidential office were gathered together.
"The ruling party is an extremely minority party, and the opposition party is mocking and hurling abusive language at the president," he said, criticizing the opposition party. "I couldn't tell the president to go to the National Assembly until the National Assembly regained its senses and returned to normal," Yoon Dae-young said.
He revealed that he had asked the president not to attend the opening ceremony on the 2nd. However, the media was quick to point out that President Yoon was absent for the first time since the inauguration of the Sixth Republic.
In an editorial dated the 3rd, the South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh wrote, "We are deeply disappointed by President Yoon's cold, ignoring visit to the National Assembly, which represents the will of the people, rather than celebrating the opening of the session and asking for cooperation."
The editorial went on to criticize President Yoon's press briefing on the 29th of last month, in which he called the four major reforms in pensions, healthcare, education and labor "a desperate task that will determine the survival and future of the Republic of Korea."
"President Yoon said, 'I will definitely achieve this goal,'" he said, but pointed out that he "did not show any intention to cooperate with the National Assembly, which is essential for this goal."
If that is the case, he must first reach out to the ruling and opposition parties and push the first button toward the normalization of national politics." The Dong-A Ilbo also reported, "President Yoon's absence from the opening ceremony this time is due to various reasons.
"No matter how much responsibility lies with the Diet and the opposition parties, as the head of the administration, he must recognize the Diet as the representative body of the people and observe a minimum level of courtesy," he said.
"The president has never missed an opening ceremony of the National Assembly, even in a time as difficult as the present," he said. On the 2nd of this month, the polling company Realmeter conducted a survey of 2,513 people aged 18 and over nationwide.
In a survey conducted from the 26th to the 30th, President Yoon's approval rating was 29.6%, down 0.4 percentage points from the previous week. The last time President Chung's approval rating fell below 30% in the company's survey was in August 2022.
If the public gets the impression that he is "disrespecting the Diet," his approval rating could fall further.