South Korea’s main opposition party on Wednesday declared a partial boycott of the legislature, stoking fears that lawmaking would grind to a halt despite the thousands of draft bills awaiting review.

The New Politics Alliance for Democracy’s move comes amid fierce partisan wrangling over the Chung Yoon-hoi scandal. The governing Saenuri Party has refused NPAD calls for parliamentary hearings on officials linked to the scandal, citing ongoing prosecutorial investigations.

The NPAD boycott will aim to pressure Saenuri officials to change their minds, analysts said, as the sit-out will block the legislation of key bills that the governing party and President Park Geun-hye have deemed critical, such as proposed reforms to the Public Officials’ Pension Act.

“The Chung Yoon-hoi scandal is like a pie from the sky for the NPAD,” said Yoon Pyeong-joong, professor at Hanshin University. “The NPAD will likely keep taking aggressive political moves against the Park administration and the ruling party.”

South Korea has been shaken by reports that Chung, Park’s chief adviser when she was a lawmaker, interfered in personnel decisions of top government positions. Leaked presidential papers said Chung had used his ties to Park’s top aides to influence her decision making.

Related reports also suggested that Park Ji-man, the president’s younger brother, was a victim of Chung’s power meddling. The younger Park was allegedly tailed by a man sent by Chung, reports have alleged.

Prosecutors are investigating the leak and whether the reports are true. But the allegations have riled the public, whose trust in President Park appears to be waning, according to recent polls.

Gallup Korea polls showed that Park’s approval rating stood at 41 percent as of Dec. 11, down from 46 percent in the first week of November.

The governing party expressed frustration at the NPAD’s decision.

“There are only 12 days left until the next plenary session,” Saenuri chair Rep. Kim Moo-sung said. “Refusing to examine pending draft bills is a serious breach of duty.”

Wednesday’s boycott by the NPAD is partial as the party will sit out from the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, while attending other meetings on a case-by-case basis. But it is enough to paralyze the parliament, as the legislation committee is the last panel that reviews proposed laws before the final vote in a plenary session.

The committee head holds the right to block draft bills from being put to a final vote. NPAD Rep. Lee Sang-min holds that seat.

The NPAD has put their sit-out conditional on holding a meeting of the House Steering Committee, the parliamentary panel responsible for auditing and probing the presidential office.

The opposition has demanded a meeting so that lawmakers will be able to finalize a schedule for calling in senior presidential secretaries. The NPAD wants to begin with Park’s chief of staff Kim Ki-choon.

The Saenuri Party showed signs they would continue to resist. Senior party officials demanded that the NPAD help them review key draft bills.

Over 8,800 draft bills are pending. Real estate reform bills that aim to invigorate the market and other draft bills proposing price ceilings on house lease agreements are pending.

By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)