Following a rancorous week of parliamentary audit, rival parties are bracing for another showdown in audit sessions this week over the issue of whether high-profile figures involved with ongoing political scandals should be summoned to testify before lawmakers.
Opposition parties, salivating over a series of corruption scandals involving close confidants of President Park Geun-hye, want to question them during the audit sessions while the ruling Saenuri Party rebukes the move as an attempt to politicize the parliamentary process in favor of the opposition bloc.
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Woo Byung-woo, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs (Yonhap) |
At the center of this standoff is Woo Byung-woo, Park‘s senior secretary for civil affairs who has been embroiled in a series of bribery scandals. Historically, incumbent presidential aides have refused to take the stand. Parliamentary committees have no legal measure to enforce their attendance.
“The Saenuri Party is acting as a branch of Cheong Wa Dae,” said Rep. Ki Dong-min, spokesman of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea. “They are systemically undermining our efforts to hold the session as scheduled.”
Last week, Saenuri lawmakers blocked their counterparts’ move to have Choi Soon-sil present at an audit session. Choi, known to be close with President Park, is accused of pulling strings to have conglomerates donate billions of won to two foundations she allegedly set up, including the Mir Foundation.
To block the opposition parties from calling in Choi, Saenuri lawmakers at the Education, Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee have invoked the authority to set up a deliberation committee and push back adopting the witness list for 90 days.
The Saenuri Party, for its part, blames the opposition bloc for hindering the legislative process to examine and scrutinize the administrative bodies, reiterating that the opposition parties’ attack over the scandal was “groundless.”
“Opposition parties do not seem to care about important issues for the country,” said Rep. Kim Myung-yeon, Saenuri Party‘s floor spokesman. “I think the whole purpose of the parliamentary audit has been undermined.”
The legislative deadlock is expected to dim the prospect of President Park’s aide testifying before the lawmakers as the Education and Tourism committee failed to agree on the witness list before the deadline for forcing the witness to take the stand.
By law, the education committee was required to agree on who to call no later than Oct. 7 -- a week before its audit session ends this Friday. The assembly law stipulates that committees cannot force their witnesses to attend the audit unless the lawmakers inform the witness a week earlier.
But the witnesses have often refused to take the stand, even if they were notified in advance, Assembly officials said. For instance, former Health Minister Moon Hyung-pyo refused to attend the audit for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in 2015, even though he was notified a week earlier.
Meanwhile, partisan fight over whether presidential aide Woo would appear for parliamentary audit is expected to escalate. The National Assembly’s House Steering Committee, dealing with inspection on presidential office, has instructed Woo to take the stand in a session set for Oct. 12.
The House Steering Committee’s chairman Rep. Chung jin-suk, Saenuri whip who had acknowledged the need for summoning Woo, has vowed to block the move following a scuffle with the opposition parties over their pushing through with a motion recommending the dismissal of a cabinet member last month.
By Yeo Jun-suk (
jaonsyeo@heraldcorp.com)
