The main opposition Democratic Party is showing no sign of letting up in its barrage of the ruling party and the government despite the parliamentary probe on the spy agency being effectively over.

The investigation into allegations that the National Intelligence Service interfered with last year’s presidential election will end on Friday. The last hearing session was held on Wednesday without the attendance of the Saenuri Party members.

DP chairman Rep. Kim Han-gil announced that his party will continue the street campaign designed to pressure the Saenuri Party and the government.

“(The DP) will fight on along with the public in the National Assembly and in the tent in Seoul Plaza,” Kim said. He added that democracy and the livelihoods of the people will face deeper crisis if the ruling party and the government continue to ignore the opposition party and the public.

“(The government) needs to reflect on the assessment that the first six months of the Park Geun-hye government is the prelude to the era of people’s unhappiness.”

While the party chairman announced the party’s plans, DP lawmakers went ahead with the final hearing without witnesses or ruling party lawmakers. Saenuri Party legislators on the panel had announced on Tuesday that they will not be attending, saying that the hearing will turn into a “stage of political offensive.”

The opposition lawmakers did use the hearing to again voice anger at the failure to call Saenuri Party’s Rep. Kim Moo-sung and Korean Ambassador to China Kwon Young-se to the stand.

Kim Moo-sung and Kwon are accused of having access to the transcript of the 2007 inter-Korean summit, which is now missing, before the Dec. 19 presidential election.

In addition, the dispute between the parties is likely to reach a new peak on Friday with the two sides remaining firm behind contradictory interpretations of the inquest’s results.

The DP claims that the investigation was unsatisfactory due to the Saenuri Party preventing Kim Moo-sung and Kwon from being questioned, but it served to prove that the ruling party collaborated with the NIS to interfere with a fair election.

For its part, the ruling party is pushing the view that it proved that the DP has been making false claims, and related developments so far are an attempt at casting doubt on the validity of the election results.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)