[Reporter’s Notebook] The Black Hole of Livelihood Issues... 'Makmal Ceremony' at the National Assembly Audit Session

Kim Moon-soo, Chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council, appeared at the National Assembly on the 12th for the National Assembly audit on the Economic, Social and Labor Council, and took the oath as a witness. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The first national audit of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, held from the 4th to the 24th of this month, has passed its halfway point. Both ruling and opposition parties have been working tirelessly, often staying late in each lawmaker's office to prepare for the audit, but in many cases, the ‘verbal abuses’ that erupted in the audit sessions have overshadowed the issues.

On the 13th, during the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee audit, People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Chang-hyun stirred controversy by describing Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Chairperson Jeon Hyun-hee as "being clingy," implying she could not respond immediately. In response, Chairperson Jeon demanded an apology, saying she felt "extreme sexual humiliation," and opposition lawmakers joined the criticism, saying it implied "the behavior of someone clinging to an ex-lover."

The day before, at the Environment and Labor Committee audit, Economic, Social and Labor Council Chairman Kim Moon-soo called former President Moon Jae-in a "Kim Il-sungist" in response to an opposition lawmaker’s question asking if he thought former President Moon was a pro-North Korean communist. Kim said, "Former President Moon said that Shin Young-bok was the Korean thinker he respected most. That is a very problematic statement." This remark led to strong protests from Democratic Party lawmakers, turning the Environment and Labor Committee audit into chaos and eventually causing it to break down.

Such verbal abuse cases were particularly frequent in this audit. People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Seong-dong caused controversy with the remark "bite your tongue and die," and a week later stirred further commotion by calling it a "well-made statement."

Although a ‘people’s livelihood audit’ was promised, verbal abuses have poured out almost daily during the past ten days of the audit, leaving both ruling and opposition parties busier filing lawsuits and counter-lawsuits against each other than considering the next livelihood questions. The Democratic Party plans to submit disciplinary proposals to the National Assembly Secretariat over the remarks by Jeong Jin-seok and Kwon Seong-dong, and is also considering filing charges of insult against Chairman Kim Moon-soo. The People Power Party has also filed complaints with the National Assembly Ethics Committee against Democratic Party lawmakers Joo Cheol-hyun, who said during the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs and Oceans Committee audit on the West Sea public official killing incident that "he died because of foolish behavior," and Kim Gyo-heung, who said during the Public Administration and Security Committee audit that someone "has no manners."

Only ten days remain in the audit. It remains to be seen whether the verbal abuse party will continue or if it will finally become a genuine people’s livelihood audit.

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