Democratic Party lawmakers staged a rare walkout during the parliamentary interpellation session for over two hours Tuesday in protest of a ruling party lawmaker’s criticism of a DP member who scuffled with presidential security guards.

In addressing the parliament, Saenuri Party’s Rep. Lee Woo-hyun said that DP lawmaker Kang Gi-jung used violence against security personnel deployed for President Park Geun-hye’s visit to the National Assembly.

Following Park’s parliamentary address on Monday, Kang was involved in a brief scuffle with security personnel, during which Kang is said to have injured a police officer, who is now considering taking legal steps. Kang, however, has denied the accusation, saying that he was being held down by two or more men at the time.

DP lawmakers returned to the session two and a half hours later, only after Saenuri Party deputy floor leader Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun expressed regrets about the presidential staff’s “excessive physical blockade” of Kang.

While the afternoon session was thrown into disarray, the two parties clashed over the developments surrounding last year’s presidential election in the morning session with the DP calling for a special counsel investigation.

The DP has been calling for the establishment of a special parliamentary committee on reforming the National Intelligence Service and a special counsel investigation into the alleged election meddling by government organizations, including the spy agency.

Although the ruling party has accepted the idea of setting up a special committee, it opposes a special counsel investigation, saying that an investigation is already under way.

The DP also followed through with its plans to request the dismissal of three top government officials including Minister of Justice Hwang Kyo-ahn.

In addition to Hwang, the DP is pushing for NIS chief Nam Jae-joon and Minister of Patriots and Veterans’ Affairs Park Sung-choon.

The DP accused Hwang of interfering in the prosecution’s investigation into the NIS’ alleged election meddling while Nam is accused of illegally disclosing the 2007 inter-Korean summit transcript to ruling party lawmakers.

The call for Park Sung-choon’s dismissal is fueled by the revelation that his organization had used booklets that branded late presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun as pro-North Korean.

The DP’s move, which has been in the works for some time, incited renewed criticism from the ruling party.

“I think this is the arrogance of the opposition party that thinks positions such as Cabinet seats as objects for political haggling,” Saenuri Party‘s Yoon said at the party’s general meeting. He added that the DP would not call for the dismissal of public officials if it was fully aware of the responsibilities of holding public posts. 


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