Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly Democratic Party Urges People Power Party to Stop Politicizing the National Assembly Audit

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Democratic Party of Korea in the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly has urged the opposition People Power Party to immediately cease all attempts to exploit the upcoming National Assembly’s audit of Gyeonggi Province, scheduled for the 18th and 20th, for political purposes.

In particular, Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate and Governor of Gyeonggi Province, could have resigned from his gubernatorial position upon confirmation as a candidate but chose to undergo this audit out of duty to the residents of Gyeonggi Province. The Democratic Party warned the People Power Party to conduct a legitimate audit in accordance with the "Act on the National Assembly’s Audit and Inspection."

On the 15th, the Democratic Party issued a statement expressing concern, saying, "If the audit proceeds according to the original purpose guaranteed by law, there would be no reason to oppose it. However, media reports on the current audit show no problem-raising based on accurate grounds or reasonable alternative proposals, but rather a showy audit focused solely on personal attacks, fault-finding, and political strife."

They continued, "The indiscriminate demands for data submission and audits related to Gyeonggi Province’s inherent affairs are clearly illegal, and we cannot help but express serious concern. While investigations by the prosecution and police into the Daejang-dong development project are ongoing, People Power Party lawmakers are using parliamentary immunity as a shield to turn this into a political offensive. Furthermore, the unjust attacks on Governor Lee Jae-myung, who was selected as the ruling party’s presidential candidate, have long crossed the line."

Moreover, "People Power Party lawmakers are requesting excessive materials beyond the scope of the audit, such as the governor’s 'annual leave' records, to exploit the audit politically," adding, "This proves that the audit has deviated from its original purpose."

According to posts on the bulletin board of Gyeonggi Province officials, the number of requested audit materials has already exceeded 4,000.

The current "Act on the National Assembly’s Audit and Inspection" (Article 7) clearly stipulates that the audit targets are "local governments including special cities, metropolitan cities, and provinces. However, the scope of the audit shall be limited to state-delegated affairs and projects supported by the state through subsidies or other budgets."

Accordingly, the Democratic Party in the Provincial Assembly proposed the following measures to rectify these issues: ▲ withdrawal of data requests beyond the audit scope and restriction of attacks on personal information, baseless speculative questions, and politically motivated remarks ▲ exclusion of matters related to local autonomous affairs from the national audit ▲ amendment of the current "Act on the National Assembly’s Audit and Inspection."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.