The committee held a plenary session that day and adopted the report on Kim's confirmation hearing, two days after the hearing concluded on Sept. 15.
The People Power Party objected, saying the report had been placed on the agenda without warning. Rep. Park Hyoung-soo, the opposition's floor manager on the committee, said in a procedural remark: "Tabling the motion to adopt the report proves that the hearing itself was a mere formality." He added, "Not a single allegation was resolved at the hearing."
Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the same party said, "Why did the Yoon Suk Yeol government fail?" He criticized the ruling bloc, saying, "If they keep taking the stance that 'the president's will is the party's will and the people's will' to suit President Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party will have no choice but to follow the same path in history." The People Power Party lawmakers walked out en masse 12 minutes after the session began, once their protest ended.
Committee Chair Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party countered, "Under the confirmation hearing law, the report must be adopted within three days after the hearing," adding, "Why bring the presidential office into this out of nowhere?"
At the same plenary session, the pro-government bloc also passed follow-up bills to the prosecution reform, including amendments to the Elderly Welfare Act, the Child Welfare Act, the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, and the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offenses. The bills mandate so-called "full referral," requiring judicial police officers to investigate promptly and refer cases to prosecutors in instances involving abuse of the elderly and the disabled, sexual violence, and sex crimes against children and adolescents.
The bills cleared by the committee will now go to a vote in the full National Assembly.
