The People Power Party’s Floor Leader, Choo Kyung-ho, urged the Democratic Party of Korea to “set aside loyalty competitions to protect Leader Lee Jae-myung for the remaining period of the parliamentary audit and focus on public welfare.”
During the parliamentary audit strategy meeting held at the National Assembly today (25th), Floor Leader Choo stated, “As this year’s audit draws to a close, civic groups have given it a score of ‘D-‘.”
He further criticized that “the parliamentary audit has deteriorated into a venue for political strife and protection, with vulgar language being rampant,” adding, “It is to the point where we cannot raise our heads in response to university students’ criticism of the excessive summoning of witnesses and coercive orders issued for political dispute by the major opposition party.”
Floor Leader Choo also commented on the parliamentary audit by the Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee, saying, “There was abuse by lining up public officials to humiliate them.” In the Legislative and Judiciary Committee’s audit, he criticized what he described as “insulting remarks against all current and former judges in Korea and absurd demands for a retrial for Leader Lee Jae-myung’s case, alongside bizarre statements pressuring judges for a not-guilty verdict for Lee.”
Deputy Floor Leader Bae Jun-young also called for introspection, stating that the Democratic Party is making a mockery of the parliamentary audit.
Deputy Floor Leader Bae remarked, “The NGO monitoring team’s general opinion is that the parliamentary audit has lost its oversight function with the audit targets being treated like criminals,” criticizing that “the opposition party is unilaterally deciding on references across all standing committees, issuing coercive orders to those they prefer, and performing surprise visits for show, which trivializes the audit.” He further added, “In the Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee, officials were reprimanded, and some audit agency staff were even taken away.”
Deputy Floor Leader Bae also noted, “The Democratic Party announced that it will hold a sub-committee of the National Assembly’s Operational Committee on Monday to abolish the automatic submission of budget bills, prohibit the resignation or dismissal of impeachment subjects, restrict the presidential request for reconsideration authority, and ban the ruling party from recommending candidates for permanent special prosecutors,” criticizing the Democratic Party for seizing control over legislation, administration, and judiciary and recklessly pushing forward.”