Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Land development scandal engulfs parliamentary audit
Defense Minister Suh Wook leaves the session of the National Assembly National Defense Committee's audit into the ministry in Seoul, Tuesday, as the inspection was suspended as rival parties clashed over a land development project involving Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung. Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
A lucrative, possibly illicit land development project involving the ruling party's leading presidential contender has been disrupting the National Assembly audit of government ministries and agencies, with the rival parties engaging in a war of words.
The Assembly kicked off its annual audit into 745 ministries and agencies for a three-week run, Friday.
The inspection, the last of its kind under the Moon Jae-in administration, comes as Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, who is likely to be the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) presidential candidate, has been under attack for his alleged involvement in the scandal surrounding the development project in the Daejang district of the city of Seongnam.
The 56-year-old has been accused of having handed out business favors to Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, a key investor in the development project, in the past while serving as mayor of the city.
In that respect, from the beginning of the audit last Friday, the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) did not waste time in finding fault with the Gyeonggi governor, with its lawmakers displaying placards demanding an independent special counsel investigation into the scandal at the audit venues.
As a result of this, many of the audit sessions by seven standing committees slated for Friday had to be suspended.
"The PPP is trying to transform the audit session into a political battleground,” Rep. Park Ju-min of the DPK said, while Rep. Kim Jong-min, a fellow DPK lawmaker, said, “Such a political move in the parliamentary audit is inviting public misunderstanding and undermining the authority of the entire National Assembly.”
In response, Rep. Yoon Han-hong of the PPP said, “Lawmakers can ask questions in various ways, including video or PPT.”
The picketing campaign continued, Tuesday, with the sessions of several committees related to the scandal ― land infrastructure and transport, legislation and judiciary, and public administration and security ― being disrupted. The PPP staged the protests even at committees unrelated to the issue, such as national defense; agriculture, food and rural affairs; and oceans and fisheries, with their sessions also being suspended.
“Lawmakers are entrusted with authority from the people to check on whether state affairs are running properly, but such actions by the PPP are compromising the Assembly's dignity,” said Rep. Kim Kyo-heung of the DPK who belongs to the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee.
However, Rep. Park Seong-min of the PPP responded: “A scandal causing public outrage has occurred, and we want to confirm it via the parliamentary audit. What's the problem?”
The audit sessions face becoming a battleground for the rival parties to take advantage of opportunities to defame each other's presidential contenders over other politically controversial issues ahead of the election scheduled for March 9, 2022.
Yoon Seok-youl, a former prosecutor general and front-runner presidential hopeful of the opposition, is caught up in a scandal alleging that he had tried to meddle in last year's general election by having one of his subordinates prod the PPP to lodge criminal complaints against critical ruling bloc figures and journalists while serving as chief prosecutor.