The citizens are raving about the filibuster carried out by opposition lawmakers to block a vote on the Terrorism Prevention Act, proposed by the chairman of the National Assembly. Last weekend, the public gallery of the parliamentary session was full of citizens who came to personally observe the filibuster.

People on social network sites are busy exchanging news of the "fili." Some experts assess that the filibuster has become a “school for democracy" fueling the public's interest in politics ahead of the April 13 parliamentary elections.

■ An Unprecedented 1,600 People Observed the Parliamentary Session

On February 28, as heavy snow fell on the National Assembly building, a stream of citizens headed toward the public gallery. Many of them were in their teens and twenties, and whole families came to observe the parliamentary proceedings. This day almost 1,000 people entered the public gallery, which can seat about 300. This was even more than the 662 people that were there on February 27. The main chamber for lawmakers was mostly empty, but the gallery was full. An official from the National Assembly Security Planning Office said, "Usually, people come in groups during the weekend. It's unusual for people to swarm like this in the weekend."

Gim Ye-jin (34, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi), who visited the National Assembly with her husband, said, "I was not really interested in politics, and I had no idea what the anti-terrorism bill was, but I saw clips of the filibuster on TV and reflected on my lack of interest. I wanted to listen and judge for myself, so we closed my husband's restaurant today and came to observe the proceedings. I'm glad I could feel the atmosphere here."

Jeong Ji-wung (42, Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi), who came with his five family members said, "I had planned to go hiking on the weekend, but I heard about the public gallery on Twitter and came here because I thought it would be a good experience for my kids. The main chamber is smaller than I thought. The podium feels close."

Some members of the ruling party also acknowledged the significance of the filibuster. On February 27, Saenuri lawmaker Lee Lee-jae (Donghae and Samcheok, Gangwon) wrote on his social network account that he had had a meaningful conversation with two high school girls from his constituency who had come to observe the filibuster and added, "I have high expectations for the future of our region seeing the passion for politics that our teenagers have."

■ "High Quality Intellectual Show" for Young People

On the Internet, the filibuster was a hot issue all weekend. Viewer reviews continued to pop up on social network sites: "I didn't know politics was so interesting," "The filibuster is an intellectual show," "The quality is much higher than a liberal arts class in college," "Communicating with the public and enjoying this like a festival, isn't this the very essence of politics?" Some even wrote that they made donations to the lawmakers taking part in the filibuster.

The number of visitors to the website Filibuster Today (www.filibuster.today), which opened on February 25 to provide information on the filibuster in real time, surpassed 270,000 in three days. Almost 35,000 people also left a message on Filibuster Relay (filibuster.me), a site opened to relay messages to the lawmakers taking part in the filibuster.

Lee Taek-kwang, a professor at Kyunghee University (advisor to the Kyunghyang Shinmun on the general election) said, "As the filibuster shows images of a 'National Assembly doing its job,' the young people have taken a stand in the center of this ‘entertainment.' Add to this, the SNS culture, in which people want to show others that they were personally there, and the filibuster has become a 'school for democracy'."