State audit once again disgraced with political brawls
By Korea HeraldPublished : Oct. 21, 2016 - 17:51
When the 20th National Assembly kicked off in June under the slogans “people’s livelihood first” and “cooperative governance,” expectations mounted for legislative progress -- that the opposition parties would use their newfound majority to monitor the administration and that the ruling party would put more effort into policy development.
But this year’s parliamentary audit, which ended Friday with a session on Cheong Wa Dae, only rekindled the public’s skepticism about the integrity of the nation’s legislative branch.
But this year’s parliamentary audit, which ended Friday with a session on Cheong Wa Dae, only rekindled the public’s skepticism about the integrity of the nation’s legislative branch.
Speaking for such sour public sentiment is the stern appraisal by a coalition of representative civic groups, which graded the parliamentary audit performance an “F” in its midway report last week.
“I believe that the final evaluation will not be much different either,” was the pessimistic prediction of Hong Geum-ae, commissioner of the nongovernmental organization Watchdog for State Audit.
“Rival parties have been so preoccupied with their respective political battles that they found relatively little time to pay attention to the audit itself.”
The three-week state audit, which was slated to start on Sept. 26, went astray from the very first day amid the inter-party feuding over the suggested dismissal of Agriculture Minister Kim Jae-soo.
After the opposition parties jointly submitted a motion to dismiss the newly appointed minister for ethical lapses, the ruling Saenuri Party immediately lodged complaints, especially against Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, who put the motion to a floor vote.
The attitude and remarks coming from Chung, whose affiliation with the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea is suspended due to his position as legislative chief, were a violation of political neutrality, the Saenuri Party claimed.
The party’s boycott of the audit sessions, as well as the hunger strike staged by its Chairman Rep. Lee Jung-hyun, clouded key pending issues such as North Korea’s nuclear program, restructuring of the ailing shipbuilding industry and follow-up actions on the recent earthquakes in the southeastern part of the peninsula.
Even after the audit resumed its track, rival parties failed to pay sufficient focus on the given agenda.
The opposition fixed its eye on clarifying the extensive political influence-peddling suspicion, involving close aides to President Park Geun-hye, while Cheong Wa Dae and Saenuri remained reserved on the issue, only refusing to send key figures as witnesses in the audit.
At the peak of the political deadlock was the audit session on the 16 metropolitan and provincial education offices earlier in the month.
During the two-day session on Oct. 6-7, the parliamentary committee for education, culture, sports and tourism was dominated by the dispute over the Culture Ministry’s approval of two dubious foundations -- Mir and K-Sports.
The two disputed organizations, under the alleged influence of mysterious presidential confidant Choi Soon-sil, are suspected to have exerted pressure upon the Blue House and the industrial circles to raise donation funds.
The later part of the audit was pushed out of the limelight by a recently-published memoir of former Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, which made allegations against the main opposition party’s former chairman and top presidential hopeful Moon Jae-in.
In his book, Song stated that the former Roh Moo-hyun administration had contacted North Korea in 2007 to ask whether Seoul should vote to adopt the UN resolution condemning Pyongyang’s human rights situation. Seoul ended up abstaining in the vote.
The Saenuri Party took this disputed claim as a counteroffensive opportunity and blasted Moon for his alleged “collusion” with the communist North and also for his vague explanation of the matter.
Between the political brawls were controversial remarks made by interpellators, many of them going viral.
Rep. Han Sun-kyo of the Saenuri Party came under fire for his sexually offensive mockery of his female opposition counterpart. Rep. Eoh Kiy-ku of the Minjoo Party posed allegations against the wrong person, mistaking him for the son of a ranking government official, for which he later recanted and apologized.
“There is nothing wrong (for lawmakers) to speak out on what is wrong, but the question is whether everybody should rush to ask the same question over and over,” Hong said.
“It is crucial that the opposition plays its proper role and carries out a thorough state audit in order to regain the people’s trust and hope, which is not the case now.”
The state audit was adopted in the nation’s initial Constitution in 1948, was scrapped in 1972 under the former President Park Chung-hee and revived in 1987, as a product of democratization.
Allowing the legislature to monitor the administration, the system not only sought a balance of state powers, but also opened doors for ambitious young lawmakers to make their name with insightful researches and cutting remarks.
But with the soaring number of subject government organizations and the limited length of time, the yearly event largely turned into what the public saw as a political show.
“Under our presidential system it is nevertheless crucial that the legislature maintains its monitoring function over the administration,” said Shin Yul, professor of political science at Myongji University.
“The problem is not the state audit system itself but the way that it operates.”
By Bae Hyun-jung / (tellme@heraldcorp.com)
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