Ruling and Opposition Clashes Over Continuing Budget Committee Questioning Amid Filibuster on Special Prosecutor Bill

The ruling and opposition parties engaged in a dispute on the 5th over whether to proceed normally with the comprehensive policy questioning at the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, now in its second day, coinciding with the bill's submission to the Assembly plenary session and the People Power Party's launch of a filibuster (a procedure to delay a vote through unlimited debate) on the so-called 'special prosecutor bill for prosecution manipulation.'

Roo Sang-bum of the People Power Party, the opposition's secretary on the budget committee, requested that the questioning be postponed to next Monday, citing the ongoing filibuster. Immediately after the questioning resumed, he said, "The Democratic Party is pushing to review the budget today, unrelated to a bill that is destroying the rule of law in South Korea," adding, "Is this really right?" Fellow party member Yoon Yong-geun said, "We are not saying we shouldn't conduct the review; we are asking for a delay to make the budget review more thorough." He criticized the special prosecutor bill, which the Democratic Party forced through the Legislation and Judiciary Committee in a single day by adopting a party-line vote, calling it "a spectacle wasting taxpayer money to eliminate the judicial risks of one man, Lee Jae-myung." He pointed out, "Over 20.9 billion won of taxpayers' money has already been spent on the three special prosecutor investigations alone," adding, "It has been found that pursuing this special prosecutor bill would require a massive 38.056 billion won in taxpayer money."

Jung Tae-ho of the Democratic Party, the ruling party's secretary on the committee, countered, "Abandoning deliberation on next year's 820 trillion won budget proposal means the National Assembly is abandoning its own responsibility," adding, "The opposition may interpret it politically and oppose it, but I believe the special prosecutor bill for prosecution manipulation is justified."

When Budget Committee Chairman Lee Kwang-jae decided to continue the questioning, some People Power Party members protested loudly. The opposition then continued to criticize the submission of the special prosecutor bill to the plenary session during the questioning. Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon said, "This is already an indicted case—so who will appoint the special prosecutor? It will be President Lee Jae-myung," and asked, "Isn't it utterly shameless for him to appoint a special prosecutor to erase his own crimes in a case where he is the party involved?" When lawmakers from the ruling party protested loudly, Han retorted, "What's your name? Go back to a baseball stadium."