Committee Chairman Kim Seong-won gavels a plenary session of the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, SMEs and Startups Committee on Sept. 8. [Yonhap]
Committee Chairman Kim Seong-won gavels a plenary session of the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, SMEs and Startups Committee on Sept. 8. [Yonhap]

A plenary session of the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, SMEs and Startups Committee scheduled for Monday was canceled after the ruling and opposition parties failed to agree on which witnesses to call for the upcoming national audit.

The committee had planned to convene a morning plenary session to vote on the national audit implementation plan and the adoption of witnesses and reference persons.

Members were also expected to take up the confirmation hearing progress report for Lee So-young, the nominee for minister of SMEs and Startups, whose hearing concluded Tuesday.

The session, originally set for 10 a.m., was ultimately called off around 11 a.m. after negotiations broke down between the People Power Party and the Democratic Party of Korea. The People Power Party had demanded that Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and former Cheong Wa Dae policy chief Kim Yong-beom be summoned as witnesses in connection with the Honam semiconductor cluster investment issue; the Democratic Party opposed the move.

Committee members plan to resume negotiations Tuesday, when the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is scheduled to brief them on the first project tied to roughly $350 billion in investment commitments to the United States.


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