The Democratic Party of Korea said the month-long delay in appointing a special inspector stems from disagreement with the opposition, adding that it would adopt the confirmation hearing report even during the parliamentary audit period if the two sides reach an agreement.
Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom of the Democratic Party, the ruling party liaison on the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, made the remarks in a notice to the press on the 19th. "We have been coordinating the schedule for agreed passage of the report since the confirmation hearing for special inspector nominee Choi Gil-soo ended," Kim said. "Because the special inspector must be neutral and independent, we worked to adopt an opinion endorsing the nominee through a bipartisan agreement, but the gap could not be narrowed while the opposition refused to endorse him."
Kim repeatedly placed the blame on the opposition, saying, "On Sept. 18, the day of the confirmation hearing, we proposed a review on adopting the report, but the opposition said it would not agree to the adoption." He added, "At the full committee meeting on Sept. 21, only the opposition liaison attended and spoke to the effect that the party would not cooperate, so the matter was pushed to the next meeting."
"We are continuing consultations on adopting the report even during the parliamentary audit, and the liaisons are discussing handling the report with both endorsing and non-endorsing opinions listed together," Kim said. "Once the consultations are complete, we will process the report even in the middle of the parliamentary audit."
The National Assembly held a confirmation hearing for Choi on the 18th of last month but has yet to adopt the hearing report, citing the failure to reach a bipartisan agreement. The Democratic Party argues that the People Power Party is responsible for opposing the adoption, while the People Power Party counters that the ruling party is "blaming the opposition because it does not want to do it."
Some in the opposition camp say the presidential office and the ruling party are reluctant to move actively on appointing a special inspector, whose role is to monitor wrongdoing by the president's relatives and by senior presidential aides at the level of senior secretary or above. The concern, they say, is that the inspector's activities could become a liability for the administration. A ruling party official dismissed that interpretation as "not true."