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Conflict between parliament speaker and ruling party turns into a mud fight

Conflict between parliament speaker and ruling party turns into a mud fight

Posted September. 30, 2016 07:33,   

Updated September. 30, 2016 07:41

한국어

On the fourth day of the ruling Saenuri Party’s boycotting the regular parliamentary audit of the government offices, often likened to be the culmination of the year’s work by the legislative body, the conflict between the ruling and opposition parties of Korea is further intensifying. The National Assembly seems to have been consumed by politics of hatred and vitriol, going beyond the usual wrangling to jockey for the upper hand.

“Reports have been made on the speaker’s deviating from his itinerary during his visit to the U.S. Both the police and the prosecution must make a thorough open investigation to verify if he is involved in any violation of election law,” argued Rep. Jo Won-jin, a member of the Saenuri Party’s Supreme Council, who heads an emergency committee convened to sack National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun.

During a general meeting on Thursday afternoon, several allegations were raised by Rep. Kim Do-eub, the Saenuri Party’s deputy floor leader, who claimed that Chung’s wife boarded a first-class flight (during Chung’s visit to the U.S.), that a schedule was arbitrarily added in San Francisco where Chung’s daughter is presumed to be living, and that 400 pieces of watch were given out to a gathering of overseas Korean residents.

Chung also fought back by saying that he would take legal steps by filing defamation suits against Saenuri lawmakers. The Saenuri Party jousted back, saying that if the speaker files the suit, the party will counter-charge of false accusation. The ruling party had filed criminal charges against the National Assembly speaker on Thursday under the charges including power abusing and filed a petition to the Constitutional Court for jurisdiction dispute.

Ten re-elected members of the ruling party visited the speaker’s official residence in protest on Thursday morning. The ruling Saenuri Party also announced its plan to push for a revised law called the “Act on Prevention of Chung Sye-gyun,” which is designed to give criminal punishment to National Assembly speaker in case he or she violates political neutrality. Chairman Lee Jung-hyun of the ruling Saenuri Party, who has been on hunger striker for the third day, met with his fellow lawmakers and said that he would go to any lengths until either the speaker or he dies.

With the partisan conflicts escalating into a political mud-fight, a voice of concern is growing loud among the non-mainstreams of the ruling party. On Thursday, 23 lawmakers of the Saenuri Party, including former party chairman Kim Moo-seong, Jeong Byeong-guk, Na Gyeong-won, and Yoo Seung-min, convened an emergency meeting and pointed out that the members of the ruling party should not go up in arms like the opposition parties, while calling for the National Assembly speaker to make an effort to resolve the crisis as a person responsible for it.



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