The People Power Party, pushed onto the defensive last year under the banner of "clearing out the insurrection," is swinging to a sweeping offensive in this year's parliamentary audits as the Lee Jae-myung government enters its second year. The Democratic Party of Korea, by contrast, is going all-in on defense, concentrating on highlighting the Lee government's policy achievements. This year's audits have piled major issues across standing committees, beginning with prosecution and judicial reform and extending to security, presidential office personnel decisions, housing, finance and trade.
Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, held a news conference at the National Assembly on the 5th and said there were "so many" important issues that he did not know which to single out, adding that "nothing is working properly — the economy, public safety, security, diplomacy, education." Unlike last year, the first year of the Lee Jae-myung government is the subject of scrutiny, and the party is building a "time for the opposition" strategy that makes the most of falling approval ratings for the party and the presidential office.
The Democratic Party, entering the audits as the defending side, has defined the session as a policy and livelihood audit and says it will show the posture of a "responsible ruling party." The party has set a strategy of using the audits to publicize the "three mega projects" the government is pursuing as its top policy agenda, along with the "five poles and three special zones" balanced regional development strategy and plans for a peace framework with North Korea. Rather than staying purely on the defensive, it plans to blunt the opposition's thrust by going on the attack over the aftereffects of policies under the Yoon Suk-yeol government.
At the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, seen as the biggest powder keg of this year's audits, an extreme standoff between the rival parties is expected from the first item on the calendar — the audit of the Supreme Court on the 6th. Jo Hee-de, the chief justice who rejected President Lee's request to renominate a Supreme Court justice candidate, is to appear that day. The dispute surrounding Jo is a multi-layered equation tied not only to interpretations of judicial independence and the National Assembly's power of scrutiny, but also to a power conflict with the president.
Jo, adopted as an ordinary witness at the Democratic Party's initiative, has already signaled a test of wills by submitting a notice of non-attendance as a witness. He is expected to attend in his capacity as head of the institution, deliver opening remarks and then leave, but there is speculation the Democratic Party could refuse to let him leave and press ahead with questioning, as it did last year. A backlash from the People Power Party would be unavoidable, raising the risk of a breakdown in proceedings.
The judiciary committee is also expected to clash over follow-up steps to prosecution reform, including whether the Public Prosecution Office and the Major Crimes Investigation Agency, launched after the abolition of the Prosecution Service, are settling in, and the question of supplementary investigation powers. Separate from the audits, the confirmation hearing for Kim Ji-yong, the nominee to head the Major Crimes Investigation Agency, expected as early as the 8th at the Public Administration and Security Committee, is another variable. Discord over Kim's appointment has persisted even within the ruling party.
At the National Defense Committee, the biggest point of contention is the land mine explosion last month in the demilitarized zone on the western front. With North Korea identified as having laid the mines, the parties are expected to clash over the military's response and the Lee Jae-myung government's approach to Pyongyang. The transfer of wartime operational control, restructuring of the military and the consolidation of the military academies are also at issue. Because security resonates strongly with conservative voters, the People Power Party is treating it as a particular focus of attack. The Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee will concentrate its scrutiny on North Korea policy and relations with the United States.
Tension is also building at the Steering Committee, which oversees the presidential office. The biggest point to watch is the 30th, the final day of the audits and the date set for the audit of the presidential secretariat. The People Power Party, seizing on the string of failed ministerial nominations, says it will call witnesses including Kim Hyun-ji, head of the presidential office's first secretariat and known as one of President Lee's closest aides, and Jung Jin-sang, former political coordination chief in the Democratic Party leader's office, to press suspicions that the "Seongnam and Gyeonggi networks" intervened in personnel decisions. But the Democratic Party opposes adopting the witnesses, calling it a baseless political attack, making it likely the exchange ends in a futile standoff as it did last year.
Battle lines have also been drawn broadly across the economy. At the National Policy Committee, a dispute over responsibility is expected regarding whether single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds were introduced too hastily and the losses borne by investors. The Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee will take up follow-up negotiations on investment in the United States. With U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally treating South Korea's participation in the Alaska liquefied natural gas project as a settled matter, the opposition is calling for close scrutiny along with allegations of backroom negotiations. At the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, home prices in the greater Seoul area and the government's housing supply measures are in focus, while the Finance, Economy and Planning Committee will draw attention to how the 100 trillion won future response fund will be financed and to the controversy over the weakening of the National Assembly's fiscal oversight.
Business executives are again being called to the audit rooms in large numbers this year. Kim Byung-ju, chairman of MBK Partners, has been adopted as a witness at the industry committee over the Homeplus crisis, and Joo Sung-won, executive vice president at Coupang, and refiner executives are also set to testify. The land committee has adopted executives from Tesla Korea and BYD Korea as well as officials from major construction firms. By contrast, Kim Yong-beom, former head of the presidential office's policy planning, and Park Hyeon-joo, chairman of Mirae Asset, whom the opposition sought as witnesses at the National Policy Committee to question how the leveraged ETFs came to be introduced, have been left off the list because of ruling party objections. Critics say the practice of hauling in business executives en masse rather than scrutinizing policy has been repeated again this year, while also pointing out that the officials who actually made the key policy decisions are not appearing.
