(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Soo-yoon and Kim Jeong-jin = The second government audit since the inauguration of the Lee Jae-myung administration has entered its final stages amid criticism that it is a 'shorts audit.'
The National Assembly concludes this year's National Assembly audit with a comprehensive audit of the Legislation and Judiciary, Foreign Affairs and Unification, National Defense, Administrative Safety, Health and Welfare, and Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committees on the 26th and 27th, and an audit of the concurrent standing committees, Operations, Information and Gender Equality and Family Committee on the 28th and 30th.
In this National Assembly audit, which began on the 6th, issues such as the conflict surrounding Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae's exercise of the right to recommend Supreme Court justices, the government's foreign and security policies, and the Blue House personnel controversy emerged as issues.
However, it is pointed out that practical verification of government policies has not been achieved due to high performance and successive failures.
The National Assembly's NGO Monitoring Group harshly criticized the company, giving it an 'F' grade for the second year in a row, following last year.
The ruling and opposition parties will begin the largest-ever budget review schedule for next year starting on the 30th, immediately after the National Assembly audit ends.
◇ The National Assembly is in its final stages… The final powder keg is the Judiciary Committee's 'Cho Hee-dae re-fight'
The biggest battle during the remaining National Assembly inspection period is expected to be the Legislative and Judiciary Committee's comprehensive audit on the 26th.
The ruling and opposition parties are expected to clash again on this day over the issue of Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, who rejected the Blue House's request to re-nominate a Supreme Court justice candidate.
In particular, in the Democratic Party of Korea, criticism targeting the 'Cho Hee-dae judiciary' is growing stronger after Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's second trial acquittal in the 'opinion poll fee payment' case. At the same time, calls for self-proclaimed “judicial reform,” including reform of the National Court Administration, are also erupting.
The People Power Party has been responding to the Democratic Party's offensive, seeing it as an unconstitutional attack on the judiciary.
The Foreign Affairs Committee is expected to focus on the government's response to the turbulence of the ROK-US alliance and North Korea's land mine provocation in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the Public Administration and Security Committee on police reform, and the Climate Exchange and Labor Committee on exceptions to the 52-hour-a-week special provisions contained in the Ultra-wide Special Zone Act.
At the Welfare Committee, the decision to postpone rebalancing of the national pension (adjustment of asset proportion) is expected to become an issue again.
In the steering committee that audits the Blue House, there is expected to be a battle over the so-called 'all-roundness' claimed by the opposition party, as well as the issue of failing to adopt witnesses for the Blue House's First Deputy Director Kim Hyun-ji, former Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik, and former Policy Director Kim Yong-beom.
At the Intelligence Committee, the issue of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's visit to China is expected to be an issue, and at the Gender Equality and Family Committee, the government and investigative authorities' response to relationship crimes and digital sex crimes are expected to be issues.
◇ National inspection stained with abusive language for shorts… Audit ends early
At this year's National Assembly inspection, 'Shorts' (short video) containing shouting remarks and harsh words between ruling and opposition party lawmakers spread on social media, giving rise to the term 'Shorts National Assembly Inspection.'
In the Legislative and Judiciary Committee, People Power Party lawmaker Kim Tae-gyu's mention of 'Owl Rock' sparked controversy, and Democratic Party Chairman Seo Young-kyo and People Power Party lawmaker Park Hyung-soo criticized each other, calling each other an "organized gangster" and a "female thug."
This war of words was edited into a short video and used for online promotion targeting hard-core supporters.
Due to the excessive enthusiasm for shorts, on the 22nd, at the National Assembly audit of the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Commission, ruling party lawmakers protested and fought over the issue of People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-sook's aides filming the meeting with a camera.
As the number of cases in which national inspections end before 7 p.m. has become more frequent, the stigma of a 'cut-out national inspection' has also emerged.
On the 16th, after a dispute over the exclusion of Rep. Lee Jin-sook from the National Assembly's inspection, the National Assembly's National Assembly automatically adjourned at 6:17 p.m., when only 4 out of 18 lawmakers had finished asking questions.
This is why there is criticism that the original message of the National Assembly has been reversed as the time to actually audit the audited institutions has decreased due to the opposition and opposition parties' battles.
The National Assembly Inspection NGO Monitoring Group issued a press release on this day and selected the following keywords for this year's inspection: 'famous inaction', 'abandonment of audit', 'general witness resolving civil complaints', 'hasty audit', 'ignorance of National Assembly inspection by head of the 3rd department', and 'qualification hearing for fellow lawmakers'.
In a simple evaluation, the monitoring group pointed out, "Out of 775 places with meeting minutes, 245 (31.6%) did not receive a single question from the head of the organization, and there were 28 heads of organizations who sat around all day and then returned," and added, "In the daily audit, the average time one member asked a question was 16 minutes."
He continued, "One question was 6 minutes and 24 seconds including answers, most of the 5,587 questions were one-sided questions with no time to hear the answer, and only remarks, including proceedings, lasted 29 hours." He pointed out, "In 69 of the 122 audits, the chairman's questions and remarks were longer than the average question by one member. The chairman held the microphone."
◇ The budget war begins as soon as the National Assembly inspection ends... The biggest issue is the future response fund.
As soon as the National Assembly audit is over, the ruling and opposition parties will begin reviewing next year's budget plan worth 820.9 trillion won, the largest ever.
Starting with a public hearing on the 30th, the budget special committee plans to operate the budget subcommittee after policy questions early next month.
Through this, the Democratic Party plans to emphasize the need for expanded finance to restore people's livelihood and secure future growth engines, and will defend the government plan as much as possible while also pushing for an increase in some projects.
An official from the Democratic Party's Budget and Accounts Committee said, "There are claims that the expansion of public rental housing and the railway budget for local-led growth should be significantly increased," adding, "The demands from the party-level regional budget policy council also need to be reflected."
The budget related to firefighter personnel, which was controversial due to Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae's 'firefighting finance straw' remark, is also subject to review for increase.
On the other hand, the People Power Party defines the government's expansionary fiscal policy as 'populism' that passes the burden on to future generations, and is preparing for large-scale cuts.
The issue on which the ruling and opposition parties will clash most sharply is the Future Response Fund, which utilizes additional tax revenue resulting from the semiconductor boom.
The government plans to use the 162 trillion won fund to invest in future growth engines, youth, local governments, and education, and to reduce new issuance of government bonds.
However, the People Power Party claims that 17.577 trillion won, or 40% of the 45.3862 trillion won in fund project expenses allocated for next year, is a generous cash distribution.
In particular, they are opposing the allocation of 1.1658 trillion won for basic income for rural and fishing communities, which provides monthly gift certificates of 150,000 won, and 792.5 billion won for culture and arts passes allocated to young people, saying it is "buying votes by selling the future."
Accordingly, the Democratic Party is emphasizing that the Future Response Fund is a device to secure financial stability by investing rapidly increased tax revenues in future growth.
