Legislative Judiciary Committee Audit Disrupted by Opposition Boycott... "Stop Political Investigations Immediately" vs "Prove Innocence and It's Resolved"

Opposition Demands Suspension of Search, Apology from President Yoon, and Prosecutor General's Resignation
Ruling Party Says, "If There Are Complaints About Investigation, Attend the National Audit"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee was scheduled to conduct a national audit of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the morning of the 20th, but it was disrupted due to the Democratic Party's boycott of the committee's audit.

On the 20th, during the National Assembly inspection of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office held at the National Assembly, members of the Democratic Party of Korea protested against the attempt to search the central party headquarters and did not attend the inspection, leaving their seats empty. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

On that day, Democratic Party members of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee did not attend the audit session and instead held a press conference in front of the committee meeting room condemning the "attempted search and seizure of the Democratic Party Central Party Office."

They stated, "Political investigations must be stopped immediately," and demanded ▲the cessation of the search and seizure of the Democratic Party Central Party Office ▲an apology from President Yoon Seok-yeol and Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon ▲the resignation of Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok ▲disciplinary actions against Song Kyung-ho, Chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office; Ko Hyung-gon, 4th Deputy Chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office; and Kang Baek-shin, Head of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. They also declared that if these demands are not met, they will not participate in the audit.

Kim Do-eup, a member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee from the People Power Party, requested Democratic Party floor leader Ki Dong-min to attend the audit, but the Democratic Party members ultimately did not participate. As a result, the morning session of the committee's audit was suspended after only procedural remarks by People Power Party members.

The People Power Party members who attended the audit criticized the opposition party.

Jang Dong-hyuk, a People Power Party lawmaker, said, "It is very regrettable that the Democratic Party is protesting and not entering the audit session," adding, "They are obstructing the rule of law and justice and challenging the people." He criticized, "If they are innocent, they should open the Democratic Research Institute and submit materials to prove their innocence themselves. The search and seizure is related to the personal crime of Deputy Director Kim, but the entire Democratic Party stepping in to block it is tantamount to admitting that the 169 seats held by the Democratic Party are being used as a shield for Representative Lee Jae-myung."

Yoo Sang-beom also pointed out, "If Democratic Party lawmakers have objections to the investigation, they should come here and actively assert the problems they see in this investigation to persuade the public," adding, "They are neglecting the legitimate duty of national governance entrusted to the National Assembly by the people."

Chairman Kim of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee said, "At this point, it seems that the Democratic Party would have the most to say at the audit where the head of the prosecution, the Prosecutor General, is present, but the Democratic Party lawmakers are boycotting the audit, which is hard to understand," and postponed the session, saying, "I hope for a complete audit with the participation of the Democratic Party rather than conducting it only with People Power Party and Transition Korea."

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