Asking Favors
Korean business groups are engaged in more and more lobbying activities in the National Assembly, with the last parliamentary inspection of the administration of the 19th National Assembly just a week away. The executive and staff members who are in charge of National Assembly affairs at the respective groups are staying close to lawmakers these days so that their heads are not summoned as witnesses.
This can be easily seen in such committees as the Trade, Industry & Energy Committee, National Policy Committee, Strategy and Finance Committee, and Environment and Labor Committee in particular. These standing committees are those that deal with more corporate and business issues than the others. The corporate employees are especially focusing on the ruling and opposition party secretaries, who have a great influence on the selection of witnesses.
“It is not a stretch to say that those at almost every well-known conglomerate visit us every day,” said a senior assistant to a re-elected member of the National Assembly and member of the Trade, Industry & Energy Committee, adding, “These people are diverse, ranging from those imploring to those waiting over and over for a meeting, and some of them are asking too much to embarrass us.”