[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hye-min] Kim Ki-hyun, a member of the Future United Party, criticized the Democratic Party for disciplining former lawmaker Geum Tae-seop on the grounds of opposing the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (HOCI) Act, saying, "Do you think the National Assembly is a government branch office and lawmakers are just hand-raisers?"
Kim, a former judge, pointed out on his Facebook on the same day, "Disciplining someone for voting in the plenary session according to personal conviction and conscience is an anti-constitutional act that directly violates the Constitution and the National Assembly Act."
He said, "As someone entrusted by the people to run the country for four years, the only thing to consider and fear should be the people," adding, "Otherwise, lawmakers will inevitably degenerate into mere hand-raisers. They will become lawmakers who fear power, not the people, and only think about nominations and the next election."
Earlier that morning, Kim also warned the Democratic Party, which was pushing to open the National Assembly on the 5th, to "be more cautious and vigilant as you may be criticized for acting like an occupying force wearing armbands."
Regarding the ruling party's threat to take all the chairmanships of the National Assembly standing committees, he said, "This is a relic of old practices that only worked during authoritarian regimes," and pointed out, "It was former President Kim Dae-jung who introduced the practice of distributing standing committee chairmanships according to the number of seats in opposition to the regime, emphasizing respect for the opinions of even a minority of the people."
He continued, "How can the ruling party lawmakers, who claim to inherit that spirit, blatantly ignore and intimidate the will of the people who supported conservative parties with 41.5% (11.91 million) of constituency votes and 33.8% (9.44 million) of proportional representation votes? Such super bullying, no different from conglomerates exploiting small and medium enterprises, must end."
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