(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporters Park Soo-yoon, Kim Jeong-jin, and Jo Daun = As the Lee Jae-myeong administration's second-year government audit enters its second week, the conflict between the ruling and opposition parties in each standing committee is expected to intensify further.
In particular, in the audit of government affairs such as the Constitutional Court, the National Police Agency, and the Korean Embassy in the United States, a fierce battle is expected between the ruling and opposition parties over issues of re-nomination of Supreme Court justice candidates, prosecution reform, and the Korea-U.S. alliance.
Furthermore, the confirmation hearing for Kim Ji-yong, candidate for the head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, which is being held amidst the National Assembly audit of the Gyeonggi Provincial Office, is expected to be held amidst subtle tension within the ruling party, drawing attention.
◇ Anticipation of conflict between Judiciary and Judiciary Committee over ‘re-recommendation’ and Public Administration and Security Committee ‘prosecution reform’… Gyeonggi Province's National Audit Office pays attention to the possibility of a battle between ships
Even in the second week of the government audit, 14 standing committees, excluding concurrent standing committees, continue to inspect government affairs against the audited organizations.
The Legislative and Judiciary Committee, the biggest battleground, is expected to continue its responsibility battle over the re-nomination of Supreme Court justice candidates in the audit of the Board of Audit and Inspection (12th), Constitutional Court and High-ranking Public Officials Crime Investigation Office (13th), Ministry of Government Legislation and Military Court (15th), and Seoul High Court (16th).
As the People Power Party has requested a power dispute adjudication at the Constitutional Court in response to the Blue House's request for re-submission, it is expected that the related battle will be intensive at the National Assembly inspection targeting the Constitutional Court on the 13th. The People Power Party claims that President Lee is undermining the independence of the judiciary to appoint the Supreme Court justices he wants in order to be acquitted in the trial.
In response, the Democratic Party is expected to highlight the 'responsibility theory of Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae' by asserting that the rejection of the reappointment is unconstitutional and that the president's right to appoint and the people's right to a speedy trial have been violated.
In the National Police Agency's inspection of the National Police Agency (12th), Gyeonggi Provincial Office and Gyeonggi Southern and Northern Police Agency (13th), and Seoul Metropolitan Government and Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (15th), questions and arguments are expected from the ruling and opposition parties regarding the fact that the police have taken charge of most investigations following changes in the criminal justice system.
The People Power Party is expected to argue that the abolition of the Prosecutor's Office has weakened the system of checks on police investigations, making it difficult to properly investigate cases in which women and the vulnerable became victims of crime. It is expected that they will launch an offensive by raising issues such as the police's poor investigation, blackmailing of cases, and corruption, and claiming that the prosecution reform that the Democratic Party has been pushing will only have the opposite effect.
In response to this, the Democratic Party is expected to emphasize that the principle of separation of investigation and prosecution, which is the goal of prosecution reform, is meant to eliminate the harmful effects of abuse of prosecutorial power, while also ordering the police to reform itself.
As Mayor Oh Se-hoon of the People Power Party and Governor Choo Mi-ae of the Democratic Party appear in the National Assembly audit of Seoul City Hall and Gyeonggi Provincial Office, it is expected that the ruling and opposition parties will focus on keeping the heads of the opposing factions in check. Among these, issues such as real estate supply issues and suspicion of payment of public opinion poll fees are expected to become hot topics in Seoul.
In the case of Gyeonggi Province, given that Governor Choo Mi-ae recently opposed the appointment of Kim Ji-yong, the candidate for the head of the Heavy Water Investigation Service, and sent messages of criticism against President Lee's personnel appointments, it is of interest what kind of attitude the ruling party members will take towards Governor Chu.
The Korean Embassy in the United States (local time on the 12th) is scheduled to receive attention during the Foreign Affairs and Trade Commission's inspection of diplomatic missions abroad.
In a situation where there have been a series of media reports pointing out abnormalities in communication between Korea and the US diplomatic and security channels, the issue of Korea-US relations has emerged as a hot issue as the issuance of a US visa for Democratic Party member Chung Cheong-rae, who was on the American-American group, was delayed, leading to a situation where Rep. Chung changed the schedule for the National Assembly inspection at the last minute.
The People Power Party is expected to press for a full-scale replacement of so-called independent personnel, highlighting the cracks in the ROK-US alliance. On the other hand, the Democratic Party is expected to launch a counterattack, saying that the People Power Party's offensive is harming national interests.
In addition, the issue of single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which have caused damage to numerous individual investors, has been rekindled in the Political Affairs and Finance Committees, and the opposition party's offensive is likely to continue by repeatedly demanding the adoption of witnesses such as Kim Yong-beom, former head of the Blue House policy office.
In addition, in the Welfare Committee's audit of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, there is a possibility that the opposition party will launch an offensive against Genencell, a pharmaceutical company involved in the suspicion of 'lobbying for approval of clinical trials of new drugs'.
The Culture and Sports Committee is expected to deal with the controversy over the movie 'Assassin(s)', which has been criticized for distorting history mainly in the conservative camp, and the Agricultural and Environmental Affairs Committee is expected to deal with the issue of a complete survey of farmland, which has drawn strong opposition from rural areas.
◇ At Kim Ji-yong’s hearing, even a single angle is expected to be verified… National Power even targets ‘Yun Ho-jung’
The National Assembly confirmation hearing for Kim Ji-yong, the first candidate for the head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, will also be held on the 14th.
Like a normal confirmation hearing, the basic structure is the opposition party's offensive and the ruling party's defense, but there is opposition from the ruling party's hardliners over candidate Kim's past history as a prosecutor, so the confrontation front may be complicated.
Right now, Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae, a member of the Democratic Party, opposed candidate Kim's appointment, comparing him to a 'secret' and Nazi war criminal 'Adolf Eichmann' and demanding the withdrawal of the nomination.
First of all, within the Democratic Party, there appears to be a clear trend of protecting candidate Kim ahead of the hearing.
As President Lee has recently released a series of messages that seem to be targeting the 'hardliners' within the ruling party who are opposing the appointment of candidate Kim, the party leadership is also emphasizing that they will refrain from public opposition and focus on the personnel hearing process.
Representative Kim Min-seok said, “Now the time for diverse opinions has passed, and the time for personnel hearings has come,” and senior vice-president of the National Assembly Policy Kim Han-gyu said, “There is a strong perception within the party that we must respect and give strength as the ruling party should.”
Accordingly, the Democratic Party is expected to focus on verifying candidate Kim's past performance and will to reform the prosecution while maintaining the principle of respecting the president's personnel rights during the hearing.
Some members of the Public Administration and Security Committee, the standing committee in charge of hearings, have also announced intensive verification, with Rep. Park Joo-min saying, “If there is anything suspicious, it must be thoroughly verified.”
The People Power Party, which plays the role of an attacker, is preparing to make sure that this hearing is in fact a 'hearing on Minister of Public Administration and Security Yun Ho-jung' rather than the Central Investigation Agency.
The intention is to focus on the fact that President Lee Jae-myung did not send a personnel hearing request to the National Assembly for more than three weeks after nominating candidate Kim, and that the Central Investigation Agency was ultimately 'launched poorly' without complete manpower, office space, and investigative infrastructure.
A People Power Party official told Yonhap News, "Minister Yoon Ho-jung lied to the National Assembly by saying, 'Everything is being prepared well,' but that wasn't true," and added, "He will be held legally and politically accountable, and he should also be charged with perjury to the National Assembly."
This official added, “We will also severely question Candidate Kim about his actions during his time as a prosecutor and measures to address the gap in the investigation due to the poor launch of the Central Investigation Agency.”
