People Power Party floor leader Song Eon-seog speaks at a party caucus meeting at the National Assembly on Thursday. [Yonhap]
People Power Party floor leader Song Eon-seog speaks at a party caucus meeting at the National Assembly on Thursday. [Yonhap]

By Jung Seok-jun, The Herald Business

People Power Party floor leader Song Eon-seog said Friday he had proposed an emergency parliamentary investigation to the Democratic Party of Korea into the ballot shortage that disrupted the recent local elections.

Speaking at a press briefing at the National Assembly, Song said he had conveyed through informal channels a proposal to immediately form a special parliamentary investigation committee. He added that he had also called for the immediate resignation of the National Election Commission's secretary general.

Song questioned why President Lee Jae Myung, who he said had kept close watch over all affairs of state, had not already moved against the NEC before political circles demanded it, calling the ballot shortage a serious infringement of constitutionally guaranteed voting rights. He also alluded to the Itaewon crowd crush and the Sewol ferry sinking, suggesting the current administration had been quick to criticize others over far smaller matters.

Turning to footage circulating online showing police removing a ballot box from a polling station in Jamsil 7-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, amid attempts by citizens to stop them, Song urged the minister of interior and safety to immediately verify the facts shown in the videos. The footage showed riot police numbering around 1,000 grabbing and dragging citizens. Song said any officers confirmed to have beaten or assaulted members of the public should be severely punished.

He also challenged the NEC and police over their handling of the protests, saying the demonstrations were a legitimate response to what he called unlawful conduct by the NEC, and that police had wrongly branded them illegal gatherings and were forcibly dispersing them. "What efforts did the NEC and police make to resolve this peacefully before forcibly detaining protesters?" he said.

Asked whether it was strange that the PPP leadership had not stepped down to take responsibility for the party's defeat in the local elections, Song said it was not his place to speak on behalf of the party.

On plans for electing a new floor leader, he sidestepped a direct answer, saying only that his term runs through June 15.


mp1256@heraldcorp.com