Tensions between the two major parties here are projected to intensify this week over whether to confirm the appointment of Prime Minister nominee Kim Min-seok, as well as the review of an extra budget proposal.
In a Sunday Facebook post, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik said that the motion to approve Kim's nomination "must be put to a vote" no later than a plenary session scheduled for Thursday. "I anticipate that the ruling and the main opposition parties will cooperate for the people and make a decision (regarding the appointment of Kim)," Woo added.
Woo's remarks come as the People Power Party and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea have failed to close the gap in their stances on the approval of Kim, with the main opposition criticizing the nominee regarding several scandals.
Woo was also responding to the Democratic Party's earlier request for the speaker to convene a plenary meeting on Monday in an apparent bid to hold a vote in favor of the prime minister nominee.
But Democratic Party spokesperson Kim Hyun-jung told reporters around noon on Sunday, "Instead of pressuring the Assembly speaker’s office, our stance is that we can pass (the motion to appoint Kim) on July 4 when we plan to pass the extra budget proposal."
Despite the People Power Party’s opposition to Kim, the Democratic Party, which holds a firm majority of 167 seats in the 300-seat Assembly, is likely to push forward with the motion to appoint the prime minister nominee.
The People Power Party on Sunday said it plans to hold a “people’s” confirmation hearing for Kim, where the four-term lawmaker would be questioned by members of the public.
“Tomorrow, at 11 a.m., the People Power Party plans to hold a people’s confirmation hearing where Kim’s issues will be dealt with,” Rep. Song Eon-seog, who was recently elected as the People Power Party’s floor leader, said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
“The two-day parliamentary confirmation hearing is over, but the people’s judgment starts now. We plan to continue the vetting of Kim by inviting committee members who are young Koreans (in their 20s and 30s), North Korean defectors and experts in various areas,” he added.
The Assembly’s 13-member special committee on personnel hearings, consisting of lawmakers from both the ruling and main opposition parties, has yet to adopt a confirmation hearing report for Kim, due to objections from the People Power Party. The committee held two days of hearings for Kim on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the main opposition denounced the unprecedented absence of witnesses regarding scandals to the nominee’s assets and family.
According to People Power Party Rep. Joo Jin-woo, a member of the personnel hearings committee, Kim’s assets stood at some 500 million won ($370,000) in 2020, yet the nominee spent 1.3 billion won around that time without clear receipts showing additional income or expenditures. Kim has also been accused of failing to submit documents demonstrating the source of money for his son’s tuition at a US university.
The four-term liberal lawmaker, who was nominated for prime minister by President Lee Jae Myung on June 4, was convicted by the country's top court in 2005 of violating the Political Funds Act by receiving 200 million won in illegal funds from conglomerate SK Group in 2002. Additionally, the Supreme Court in 2010 found him guilty in a separate political slush fund case, in which he received illegal funds worth a combined 720 million won from three of his aides in 2007.
The issue of approving the Lee administration's 20.2 trillion won extra budget proposal is expected to fuel partisan tension as well. The extra budget proposal is the second of its kind this year and the first since Lee took office.
The People Power Party took issue with a portion of the budget that includes distribution of vouchers ranging from 150,000 to 520,000 won per person, depending on income level.
On Friday, the Assembly elected four chairs for parliamentary committees in the plenary session, as the People Power Party walked out of the session in a show of protest.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
