Government and Ruling Party Boycott... Welfare Committee Turns into a Rebuke Session "Time to Consider the People, Not Yongsan"

Emergency General Meeting on Medical Sector Strike: Minister and People Power Party Absent
Chairman Park Jumin "Will Hold Responsible for Absence Incident"

The National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee held a plenary meeting on the morning of the 19th to discuss the medical service gap crisis, but it turned into a session condemning the ruling party. This was due to the absence of Health and Welfare Minister Cho Kyu-hong and ruling party lawmakers.

Park Joo-min, chair of the Health and Welfare Committee from the Democratic Party, stated, "The government is refusing a legitimate National Assembly attendance request under the National Assembly Act and is responding to the public's concerns about the medical emergency and the committee members' demands with silence."

Chair Park proposed the submission of documents under Article 1 of the agenda. This was to request the submission of related documents from the Ministry of Health and Welfare for urgent inquiries related to the medical emergency situation, in accordance with Article 128 of the National Assembly Act. However, the scheduled urgent inquiry was ultimately canceled.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Standing committee members from the Democratic Party strongly criticized the government and ruling party for their absence at the meeting. Lawmaker Baek Hye-ryun said, "Now is the time to consider the people, not to be cautious of Yongsan," adding, "This is an act that disregards the lives and health of the people and ignores the National Assembly, the representative institution of the people," expressing outrage.

Lawmaker Baek also requested the holding of a hearing that can compel government attendance. She said, "Many citizens agree with the issue of increasing medical school quotas by 2,000, but there are doubts. I believe the Health and Welfare Committee should hold a hearing that can compel attendance to clarify on what grounds this decision was made and to relieve the public's frustration."

Democratic Party lawmaker Seo Young-seok, a pharmacist, also agreed on the need for a hearing, saying, "The government only shouts for a strict response to the medical strike but evades and refuses to attend, which is deceiving the public," and added, "The government is not only refusing to attend but also not submitting any documents related to the medical school quota."

The Democratic Party is reportedly planning to take strong legal measures such as issuing attendance orders against the government and ruling party's absence that day. Chair Park warned, "We will definitely hold them accountable for the (government and ruling party's absence) incident."

Meanwhile, the People Power Party's Medical Reform Special Committee held a meeting that morning at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital in Seocho-gu, Seoul, with Director Yoon Seung-gyu of Seoul St. Mary's Hospital and others.

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