The Constitutional Court on the 21st partially granted an injunction sought by Lee Jin-sook, a lawmaker of the People Power Party, who had been barred from the National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee's parliamentary audit of government agencies. The court found that a blanket ban on taking part in the audit was unwarranted even where conflict-of-interest concerns exist. Lee will be able to join the audit from the 22nd on matters that raise no such conflict.
The court said the same day that it was suspending, in part, the effect of the committee's resolution restricting her participation, in a unanimous decision by the justices. It kept the restriction in place for four categories, including matters tied to decisions she made while serving as chair of the Korea Communications Commission and criminal cases involving her.
The court held that even where recusal measures aimed at preventing a lawmaker's conflict of interest are justified, their scope must be limited to the individual matters in which the lawmaker has an interest. "When the plenary session or a committee votes to halt a lawmaker's participation in an audit, it may adopt a recusal resolution only as to that matter in which the lawmaker has a direct interest or in which there are compelling grounds that fairness cannot be ensured," the court said. "The existence of grounds for recusal does not mean participation in the audit can be restricted across the board."
The Democratic Party of Korea and others had tabled and passed the recusal motion at the committee's audit on the 12th of this month, arguing that there was a potential conflict of interest because the decisions Lee made and the duties she performed while chairing the Korea Communications Commission fell within the scope of the audit. The People Power Party then filed an injunction request and a competence dispute case with the Constitutional Court on the 15th, saying the resolution infringed on her powers as a lawmaker.