The second parliamentary audit under the Lee Jae-myung administration begins on the 6th and runs through the 30th, with the ruling party planning to focus on reviewing how the government is carrying out its policies to support household livelihoods. The conservative opposition, including the People Power Party, intends to mount a full-scale offensive by highlighting what it calls the government's policy failures.
Political sources said on the 5th that each standing committee faces a pile of contentious issues. The Legislation and Judiciary Committee, expected to be the main battleground, is likely to see confrontation over follow-up measures to prosecution reform and over Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de — not only between the ruling and opposition parties but within the ruling party itself. At the House Steering Committee, the opposition has signaled it will scrutinize allegations of improper influence over appointments involving Kim Hyun-ji, head of the presidential office's first secretariat, whom the opposition has described as an unofficial power broker. The National Defense Committee is expected to see heated exchanges over security issues, including a North Korean landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone.
In the economy and industry sessions, the opposition is expected to keep pressing over the commercial viability of South Korea's investment negotiations with the U.S. and allegations that the agreement was reached behind closed doors. Clashes are also expected over leveraged exchange-traded funds and over who bears responsibility for housing policy. Home prices in Seoul have risen for 88 consecutive weeks. Within the opposition, there are growing calls to summon Kim Yong-beom, the former head of the presidential office's policy planning office, to establish accountability for how those decisions were made.
"I cannot find a single part of the Republic of Korea's system that is working properly," People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk said at a news conference the same day. "On behalf of the people, we will question the government in detail." Kim Sung-hoe, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea's floor leadership, said the party would "make this a forum for crafting policy alternatives for the people and their livelihoods."
