PPP urges Democratic Party to end 'obstruction and street agitation'
Democrats push to subpoena Chief Justice Jo over refusal to renominate justices
PPP targets single-stock leveraged ETFs; Kim Yong-beom, Park Hyun-joo blocked as witnesses; Coupang Inc approved
The ruling and opposition parties are set to clash over a series of contentious issues when the National Assembly's national audit kicks off Tuesday, including Chief Justice Jo Hee-dae's refusal to renominate Supreme Court justices, single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds and a landmine explosion in the demilitarized zone attributed to North Korea.
The Democratic Party of Korea characterized the People Power Party's recent street rallies as an internal rallying exercise and urged the PPP to join what it called a "people's livelihood" audit. Democratic Party Floor Leader Han Byung-do said at a supreme council meeting on Friday that the party would "open the national audit situation room on Oct. 6 and launch a policy audit focused on people's livelihoods." Han also urged the PPP to "stop its irresponsible obstruction and groundless street agitation."
The Democratic Party plans to call Chief Justice Jo as a general witness during the audit and press him on his refusal to renominate Supreme Court justice candidates. Rep. Seo Yeong-gyo, a Democratic Party lawmaker who chairs the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, criticized Jo at an emergency forum with constitutional law experts on the appointment of Supreme Court justices. "Nominating Supreme Court justice candidates is an obligation — refusing to do so violates the Constitution by infringing on citizens' right to a trial," she said.
Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok also spoke at the forum, saying the central question on Friday was "whether the power to nominate outranks the power to appoint, and whether it is acceptable to infringe on citizens' right to a speedy trial in this manner."
The PPP said it would focus its audit scrutiny on accountability for personnel failures tied to the "Seongnam-Gyeonggi Province line," as well as farmland and real estate issues, single-stock leveraged ETFs and the DMZ landmine explosion attributed to North Korea.
PPP Floor Leader Jeong Jeom-sik said at the National Assembly on Friday that the party was converting its floor strategy meetings into national audit strategy sessions, adding that the audit would be one of "restoring truth, livelihoods and hope." "We will restore the truths the administration has concealed and rebuild the livelihoods and hopes of the people that have collapsed," he said.
Jeong also called for Kwon Dae-young, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission, to appear as a witness, saying the government had moved Kwon — whom he described as bearing significant responsibility for introducing leveraged ETFs — to the post of first vice minister at the Ministry of Economy and Finance. "It is problematic enough to entrust economic policy to someone who set fire to the stock market, but there is strong reason to suspect the move was also intended to help him avoid appearing before the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee audit," Jeong said.
PPP lawmakers on the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee held a press conference Thursday saying that not a single one of the 39 general witnesses the PPP had requested in connection with single-stock leveraged ETFs had been approved, due to opposition from the Democratic Party.
The lawmakers particularly pressed for Kim Yong-beom, former presidential policy chief at Cheong Wa Dae, to be approved as a witness. The Political Affairs Committee approved 18 general witnesses and two reference witnesses on Thursday, including Paul Singer of US hedge fund Elliott Management, Homeplus Chief Executive Cho Ju-yeon and Coupang Inc Executive Vice President Joo Sung-won. However, the committee rejected witness requests for Kim and Mirae Asset Group Chairman Park Hyun-joo, both sought in connection with the introduction of single-stock leveraged ETFs.
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