Operation Committee Predicts Heated Debate Over 'Kim Yeo-sa Suspicion'... Opposition Calls It "Prosecutor Dictatorship," Ruling Party Calls It "Parliament Dictatorship"

The National Assembly's Steering Committee held a standing committee meeting on the 27th targeting the Presidential Office. A confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties is expected over the controversy surrounding First Lady Kim Geon-hee's receipt of luxury goods and the allegations of residence expansion. After discussing the nomination request for Ahn Chang-ho, the candidate for the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, in the morning, the committee will conduct hearings on the Presidential Secretariat and the National Security Office in the afternoon.

The opposition parties, including the Democratic Party of Korea, plan to strongly question the convening of the Investigation Deliberation Committee. On the other hand, the ruling party is expected to emphasize the legitimacy of the referral procedure and refute various allegations.

The tension between the ruling and opposition parties ahead of the heated debate was clearly reflected in the remarks of the members of both parties appointed to the Steering Committee that day. Yang Moon-seok, a Democratic Party lawmaker, directly criticized, "Personally, I think this is a prosecutor dictatorship regime. After today, I ask the Presidential Office to prove that it is not a prosecutor dictatorship regime."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In response, Kang Seung-gyu, a lawmaker from the People Power Party, countered, "Whether it is a military dictatorship or a parliamentary dictatorship, and who is threatening the democratic basic order clearly stated in the Constitution, I participated to carefully examine this in the Steering Committee."

One of the biggest issues in the afternoon hearing on the Presidential Office is expected to be the controversy over the appropriateness of convening the Investigation Deliberation Committee by the prosecution investigation team. Earlier, on the 23rd, Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok referred the case concerning First Lady Kim Geon-hee's alleged receipt of a Dior bag to the Prosecution Investigation Deliberation Committee on his own authority. The Prosecution Investigation Deliberation Committee is a system where external experts review the prosecution's investigation and indictment process to check the abuse of prosecutorial power. The Democratic Party criticized it as a 'trick' to legitimize the decision of no charges.

Meanwhile, the Steering Committee adopted the plan for the personnel hearing of Ahn Chang-ho, the candidate for Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, and selected witnesses and reference persons for the hearing in the morning session. The personnel hearing for candidate Ahn is scheduled for the 3rd of next month, and three witnesses were selected: Lee Chung-sang and Kim Yong-won, standing members of the National Human Rights Commission, and Yoo Kyung-sun, Chairperson of the Eugene Group.

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