Environment and Labor Committee summons DL·SPC Group chairman for hearing... ruling party absent

A One-Day Hearing Held for Absence from National Audit Due to Overseas Business Trip... No Agreement Between Ruling and Opposition Parties
Lee Haewook "Will Not Cut Safety-Related Budget"

On the 1st, the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee summoned Lee Hae-wook, chairman of DL Group, and Heo Young-in, chairman of SPC Group, to hold a hearing related to industrial accidents. Both chairmen acknowledged moral responsibility for the occurrence of serious accidents and promised to increase the budget for safety-related measures.

At the Environment and Labor Committee plenary meeting held at the National Assembly on the 16th, seats of ruling party lawmakers are empty. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The hearing was held separately because Lee and Heo were notified to appear as witnesses during the Environment and Labor Committee’s national audit in October due to consecutive serious accidents, but they did not attend citing overseas business trips.

Lee Eun-ju, a lawmaker from the Justice Party, questioned Chairman Lee about structural issues such as subcontracting in the construction industry and emphasized that principles must be fully observed when allocating safety-related costs. In response, Chairman Lee said, "The budget for safety has never been cut," and added, "We plan to increase it by more than 20% next year as well."

Jin Sung-jun, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party, criticized Chairman Heo for using an overseas business trip as an excuse to skip the national audit. Previously, Heo had missed the audit citing a business trip to Europe. Jin also asked, "Do you acknowledge that you are responsible under the Serious Accident Punishment Act?" To which Heo replied, "There is definitely moral responsibility." SPC was also criticized for submitting insufficient safety-related materials prior to the hearing.

Meanwhile, the hearing was conducted solely by opposition lawmakers, with ruling party lawmakers absent except for Im Yi-ja, the ruling party’s Environment and Labor Committee secretary. Im protested during a procedural speech, stating, "Both DL Group and SPC Group have submitted proposals on how to prevent serious accidents and allocate safety management costs after the national audit," and objected to the hearing being held solely by the opposition. In response, Lee Su-jin, the Democratic Party’s Environment and Labor Committee secretary, retorted, "The attendance allowances of lawmakers who did not attend the meeting should be cut."

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