Ruling and Opposition Parties Clash Over Leadership in Next Year's General Election
Intensified Disputes in Legislation and Budget Committees
The final National Assembly audit of the 21st National Assembly began on the 10th. Since this audit is held six months ahead of next year's general election, a fierce struggle for leadership between the ruling and opposition parties broke out from the start. The Democratic Party of Korea emphasized the failures of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration as their strategy, while the People Power Party launched an all-out offensive by putting the responsibility of the previous Moon Jae-in administration front and center. Following the disruptions at the confirmation hearing of Kim Haeng, the Minister of Gender Equality and Family nominee, and the rejection of Lee Gyun-yong, the Supreme Court Chief Justice nominee, tensions between the ruling and opposition parties reached a peak, leading to sharp exchanges during the audit.
Hong Ik-pyo, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, said at a National Assembly audit strategy meeting held at the National Assembly that day, "This is effectively the first audit since the Yoon Seok-yeol administration began 1 year and 5 months ago," and emphasized, "We will make this an important opportunity to stop the incompetence and reckless actions of the Yoon administration and to set the Republic of Korea straight in this time of crisis."
He then urged the government and ruling party, saying, "Blaming others or the previous administration will not work. Please approach the audit with unlimited responsibility." The Democratic Party plans to point out the economic failures of the Yoon administration and is determined to resolve suspicions on behalf of the public regarding controversies such as the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway preferential treatment issue and the discharge of contaminated water from Japanese nuclear power plants during this audit. Hong said, "The principle and standard of this audit is 'the people,'" and emphasized, "We will create a 'people's audit' that resolves the public's suspicions and reflects their demands." He added, "This audit will be an economic audit that highlights the economy and people's livelihoods," and said, "The government is only optimistic and has not presented any measures. The Democratic Party will examine the falling economy and the crisis of people's livelihoods and propose alternatives."
During the 24-day audit period starting from that day, the Democratic Party plans to convert the floor strategy meetings into 'National Assembly Audit Strategy Meetings' and operate a joint situation room with three members, concentrating all party efforts on the audit. Yoon Young-duk, the party's floor spokesperson, said to reporters after the audit strategy meeting, "We will prepare so that the audit can proceed smoothly and the public's suspicions can be thoroughly resolved by checking the progress of the audit through meetings reviewed in the joint situation room." The Democratic Party considers issues such as the 'Marine Corps Chae Sang-byeong death accident,' 'Fukushima nuclear power plant contaminated water discharge,' 'Yangpyeong Expressway related to the president's family,' 'Osong disaster,' and 'Jamboree disruption' as common agenda items across standing committees and sees the need for joint responses.
The People Power Party, emphasizing 'people's livelihoods' as a keyword, focused on highlighting the judicial risks of Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party leader, and the resulting internal party conflicts. Yoon Jae-ok, the floor leader of the People Power Party, mentioned the 'shielding National Assembly' caused by Lee Jae-myung's judicial risks at the National Assembly audit strategy meeting held that day, saying, "At a time when public disgust toward politics is higher than ever due to unreasonable actions and harsh remarks aimed only at extreme supporters, many tactics to ignore the public and focus on securing nomination rights may increase ahead of next year's general election. Therefore, the fair attitude of each standing committee chairperson is urgently required."
Regarding the disruption of the confirmation hearing for Kim Haeng, the Minister of Gender Equality and Family nominee, he said, "To prevent repeated habitual disruptions caused by the unilateral procedural progress and biased operation of standing committee chairpersons, we will promote legislation to codify the neutrality obligation of standing committee chairpersons and improve procedures related to session changes."
On the first day of the audit, the ruling and opposition parties exchanged sharp confrontations in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, National Defense Committee, Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, and the Strategy and Finance Committee. In particular, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee saw a fierce battle over the 'vacancy of the Supreme Court Chief Justice' that occurred for the first time in 30 years. Jeong Jeom-sik, the ruling party member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, said regarding the opposition's rejection of Lee Gyun-yong's nomination as Supreme Court Chief Justice by party consensus, "We will focus on questioning and scrutinizing the national losses and damages to the public caused by the vacancy of the Supreme Court Chief Justice," and added, "We want to evaluate the six years of former Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo, who was criticized for rulings favoring his side, political bias, and appointments based on specific research groups and codes." In the Strategy and Finance Committee, a dispute arose over the Moon Jae-in administration's manipulation of real estate statistics. Ryu Seong-geol, the ruling party member of the Strategy and Finance Committee, said, "Since there have been continuous allegations of real estate statistics manipulation, it is natural to question this. We will conduct a well-prepared audit through prior meetings. Please watch closely."
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