After Many Twists, the Judiciary Committee Audit Opens... Ruling and Opposition Parties Clash Over Responsibility for Previous Day's Disruption

"Ruling Party's Regret Over Solo Session" vs "Opposition Must Apologize First for Absence from National Audit"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On the 21st, the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit proceeded normally with all ruling and opposition party members present, but there was a heated exchange in the morning as both sides blamed each other for the previous day's disruption of the committee session.

On the 20th, during the National Assembly inspection of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office held at the National Assembly, Democratic Party lawmakers protested against the unilateral conduct of the meeting by Kim Do-eup, the chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On this day, the ruling and opposition members of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee continued their tense exchanges from the start of the procedural remarks. Kwon Chil-seung, a Democratic Party member who took the first procedural remark, began by saying, "I regret that the committee was operated solely by the ruling party yesterday."

Rep. Kwon pointed out, "It seems the Yoon Seok-yeol administration is running wild recently. Despite the golden time at the beginning of the administration being only a few months ago, the government's approval rating has plummeted by half. Also, the Blue House was relocated because they insisted they could not spend even one night there."

In response, Kim Do-eup, a People Power Party member of the committee, interrupted, saying, "Please proceed with your procedural remarks," and Rep. Kwon replied, "I am making a procedural remark."

When opposition party floor leader Ki Dong-min raised his voice, saying, "Let's listen!", ruling party members retorted, "First, apologize for your absence at yesterday's audit!"

When Rep. Ki said again, "Please stay quiet," ruling party members including Cho Soo-jin shouted back, "Apologize!" Rep. Ki yelled, "Because of people like you, we cannot proceed with the meeting." Immediately, Rep. Cho responded, "People like you? Apologize!" and the audit venue was filled with loud voices for a while in the morning.

After Rep. Kwon finished his procedural remarks, Chairman Kim responded to the Democratic Party's protest that the ruling party held the previous day's audit session alone by saying, "Yesterday's audit was scheduled according to an agreement between the ruling and opposition negotiation groups and was approved in the plenary session. I express deep regret to the Democratic Party members who did not attend."

People Power Party member Jeon Ju-hye also pointed out, "Today, Democratic Party members should not enter the audit site as if nothing happened but should first offer a sincere apology for their unjustified absence at yesterday's audit."

Rep. Jeon said, "Yesterday, the People Power Party waited until 3 p.m. for the Democratic Party members, but they refused to come in with unacceptable demands presented by the Democratic Party's Legislation and Judiciary Committee members as excuses and reasons. As a result, only the People Power Party and Rep. Cho Jeong-hoon of the Transition Korea party attended. It was not a ruling party-only session. Is Rep. Cho a ruling party member?"

In the Q&A session following the blame game over the previous day's audit disruption, Democratic Party members focused their attacks on the investigation into Kim Geon-hee's thesis plagiarism, while People Power Party members emphasized an unreserved investigation into Lee Jae-myung's judicial risks.

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