The ruling and main opposition parties appear to be on a collision course over the Government Organization Act despite their earlier agreement to process the revision by the end of October.
In the wake of the April 16 ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people, the Park Geun-hye administration drew up a revised draft of the Government Organization Act. Central to the revision is the reorganization of government agencies concerned with safety issues.
Under the revision, government agencies concerned with safety issues including the National Emergency Management Agency, Coast Guard and the Ministry of Security and Public Administration will be dismantled. In their place, a lower-level ministry tentatively named the “national safety ministry” will be established under the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Coast Guard’s investigative functions will also be transferred to the National Police Agency.
The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, however, opposes the plans, calling for a full-fledged ministry for safety issues headed by a deputy prime minister.
The revision put forward by NPAD lawmakers proposes changing the functions of the Coast Guard to concentrate on safety issues and placing it under the safety ministry. In addition, the National Emergency Management Agency would be kept intact but reorganized to streamline the organization for dealing with disasters.
While both sides agree on the need to reorganize government agencies, the NPAD is strongly protesting the plans to abolish the Coast Guard.
Citing the continuing clashes with Chinese fishing vessels in the West Sea, the opposition party claims that transferring the Coast Guard’s functions as a police force would render the organization ineffective in dealing with the issue.
Illegal fishing by Chinese vessels is an ongoing problem with Chinese fishermen putting up increasingly systematic and violent resistance.
Since 2008, two Coast Guard officers have been killed while arresting Chinese fishermen illegally fishing in Korean waters. During the same period, two Chinese nationals have been killed.
Rep. Jung Cheong-rae, the NPAD’s representative on the parliamentary Security and Public Administration Committee, recently reaffirmed the party’s position that the Coast Guard and the National Emergency Management Agency must be maintained.
The ruling Saenuri Party, which has backed the government’s plans from the outset, is also sticking to its own position.
“As the Sewol disaster proved that the Coast Guard is unnecessarily large and that its duties are unclear, disbanding the organization is an obvious course of action,” the Saenuri Party’s Rep. Cho Won-jin, Jung’s counterpart on the committee, said. “However, the matter of giving the Coast Guard initial investigative rights could be discussed once the negotiations begin.”
By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)
