Published : Sept. 28, 2016 - 16:59
The ruling Saenuri Party members on Wednesday decided against their chief’s suggestion to return to the parliamentary audit, reiterating their position to continue the boycott for the resignation of the National Assembly Speaker.
They instead decided to join Chairman Rep. Lee Jung-hyun‘s on-going hunger strike in turn.
“Most of the members agreed that they cannot return to the audit while leaving the chairman on a hunger strike on his own,” said the party’s floor spokesman Rep. Min Kyung-wook.
Saenuri Party lawmakers hold up pickets calling for the resignation of National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun in front of the Assembly hall on Wednesday. (Yonhap)
Adding that Speaker Chung Sye-kyun has repeated his refusal to apologize, Min said they had no reason to return at this time.
The party’s decision came several hours after chairman Lee told the party’s members to cease its boycott of the audit, as calls for the resumption of the annual audit are growing.
Saenuri has been refusing to participate in the audit since Monday over what they claim was an abuse of power by Speaker Chung Sye-kyun during a vote for the dismissal of the controversy-ridden agriculture minister.
Lee has been on a hunger strike calling for Chung’s resignation.
“It is my belief, as well as Saenuri’s, that we should work for the country no matter what the situation is. Through the audit, please make sure that (the government) is spending its budget right and is not mistreating the people,” Lee said during a party meeting about Chung’s resignation.
But earlier in the day, Saenuri floor leader Rep. Chung Jin-suk had remained more adamant, saying that the party leadership “will not tolerate” attempts to break away from the party’s general direction.
Lee vowed to continue his hunger strike, maintaining his claim that Chung has failed to remain politically neutral and must step down.
Speaker Chung maintained that he has acted according to parliamentary regulations and that he has no reason to apologize during a meeting with the foreign press.
Rep. Woo Sang-ho, the floor leader for the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, had welcomed Lee‘s announcement and said it would help “normalize” the Assembly.
“I assess (Lee’s announcement) as giving in to the pressure from the people, that they (ruling party) cannot abandon the parliamentary audit which takes care of people‘s lives. It has been my consistent position that the parliament’s discussion of the state affairs cannot be discarded under any circumstances,” he said, adding that Lee‘s remarks came as a complete surprise.
The ruling party said Wednesday it will press criminal charges against the Assembly speaker for libel due to his alleged spreading of false information.
The ruling party has accused Chung of falsely claiming to have reached an agreement with both ruling and opposition parties to start a parliamentary session Saturday. The attending opposition lawmakers approved a resolution to recommend the dismissal of newly appointed Agriculture Minister Kim Jae-soo. The Saenuri Party said Chung failed to remain politically neutral.
After President Park Geun-hye’s veto of the recommendation Monday, Kim was named to the post. Kim has been marred by multiple allegations including questionable real estate transactions and receiving a bank loan at a suspiciously low rate.
Saenuri subsequently commenced a boycott of the audit, but there have been growing calls for the ruling party to scrap its protests from the opposition as well as within the party.
Choo Mi-ae, the leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, accused Lee of acting solely on the president’s behalf.
Earlier in the day, she called the Saenuri leader and urged him to stop the hunger strike “for the people” and carry out political actions “in a normal way.”
Friction within the Saenuri Party was hinted at Tuesday when Rep. Kim Young-woo, the head of the parliamentary Defense Committee, defied the party’s leadership and attempted to participate in the audit.
Kim was prevented from doing so when fellow party members -- including former leader Rep. Kim Moo-sung -- entered his office and stopped him from leaving.
The Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee Chairman Rep. Cho Kyoung-tae, who is also a Saenuri Party member, appeared open to resuming the audit, as he convened a meeting Wednesday with members of the main and opposition party of the committee to discuss conditions. They failed to reach an agreement.
Both chairmen Kim and Cho, along with other members such as Rep. Ha Tae-keung, who had called for the resumption of the audit against their party’s boycott, belong to the party’s minority faction.
Prior to Lee’s announcement, members of the opposition bloc and Saenuri had commenced talks on the Chung conundrum.
Minor opposition People’s Party floor leader Rep. Park Jie-won said the floor leaders of the three parties had reached an agreement to end the current impasse but Speaker Chung had rejected it.
Rep. Woo, however, countered Park’s claim, saying there has been no agreement as Saenuri refused to cease calls for the speaker’s resignation.
By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)