Ho-young Joo (left), the floor leader of the People’s Power, and Hong-geun Park, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, agreed to hold a state affairs inquiry into the Halloween disaster in Itaewon in the National Assembly on the 23rd. and listen to the agreement. Minkyu Park Senior Reporter
The ruling and the opposition parties agreed on the 23rd to hold a government investigation to discover the truth about the Itaewon Halloween disaster. 25 days have passed since the disaster happened. At the plenary meeting on the 24th, the National Assembly will adopt the government investigation plan agreed by the opposition parties and the opposition parties, process next year’s budget bill, and begin a full investigation by the government.
Ho-young Joo, floor leader of People’s Power, and Hong-geun Park, floor leader of the Democratic Party, announced an agreement containing these contents in the National Assembly that day.
At the plenary meeting on the 24th, the opposition parties and opposition parties approve the plan for an investigation into state affairs by vote, and after submitting data and processing the budget bill, they will proceed with a full investigation into state affairs, including agency reports, on-site inspections, and hearings.
The parliamentary investigation period is 45 days between 24 and January 7 next year, and can be extended by a decision in the plenary meeting. The National Assembly’s Special Committee of Inquiry decided to include 9 members from the Democratic Party, 7 members from Crym y Popl, and 2 members from non-opposition groups (Justice Party and Basic Income Party). The chairman is the Democratic Party. The three opposition parties, including the Democratic Party, have already appointed members, including the chairman (Representative Woo Sang-ho). It is expected that the first meeting of the special committee will be held on the 24th at the earliest, as the people can present the list of members also after the agreement on this day.
The organizations subject to the investigation include the Office of State Administration of the Office of the President, the National Emergency Management Center of the Office of National Security, the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, the Fire Administration, the Office of the Supreme Prosecutor , National Police Agency, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Yongsan Police Station, Seoul City, and Yongsan-gu. The Presidential Security Service and the Ministry of Justice were exempted as a result of the ruling party’s request.
The National Assembly inquiry into state affairs is the first in six years since the 2016 inquiry into state affairs by the Park Geun-hye administration.
On this day, the power of the people is the power of the people. A day before the plenary session of the government’s investigation plan from the three parties (Democratic Party, Justice Party, and Basic Income Party), there was a general meeting of law makers held to withdraw the policy of “discussing the investigation of government affairs after the police investigation” and “holding the investigation of state affairs after processing the budget bill.”‘ As the party debated, the negotiations between the ruling and r opposition parties. The power of the people, who needed the cooperation of the opposition parties to process the budget bill and next year’s bills, and the Democratic Party, who had a great political burden to conduct a parliamentary inquiry only from the opposition parties, found a compromise by making budget bill processing is a prerequisite.
Representative Joo said, “The Democratic Party, which has a majority of seats, said it would decide on its own, so I thought it was the duty of the people for the ruling opposition parties and the opposition parties do that (together).” Park said, “I will do my best to fulfill the responsibilities given to the National Assembly, not for political purposes, but to find out the facts as they are.”
Although the ruling and the opposition parties have reached a dramatic agreement, it is expected that it will be difficult for the parliamentary investigation to proceed smoothly. This is because it is uncertain whether the budget bill, which is a prerequisite, will be processed within the regular session of the National Assembly (December 9), and sparks of conflict are lurking everywhere, such as the opposition’s offensive targeting the top government officials, such as the transfer of officials from the presidential office, and mixed evaluations of the results of the police investigation. Clashes between the opposition parties are expected even with the adoption of witnesses and evidence and the extension of the period.
On this day, the opposition and opposition parties formed a policy advisory body to deal with the amendment to the Government Organization Act and the bill to match the terms of office of the president and heads of public institutions, and to enact common promises. the ruling and the opposition parties in the last presidential election, with the power of the people and the chairman of the policy committee of the Democratic Party focusing on the ‘ordinary presidential election promise’ They agreed to form a promotion team and implement it. In addition, it was agreed to form a special committee on population crisis, a special committee on climate crisis, and a special committee on high-tech strategic industries within the National Assembly.
