Over 'Disqualification of Lee Jin-sook': "A Player Cannot Be a Referee" vs. "Apologize for Gagging"

[Anchor]

Rival parties engaged in a fierce war of words over the Constitutional Court's decision to partially suspend the effect of disqualifying People Power Party Lawmaker Lee Jin-sook from the parliamentary audit. The Democratic Party argued the ruling makes clear that a player cannot be a referee, while the People Power Party countered by demanding an apology first, saying the tyranny of the majority has been exposed.

Kim Bo-mi reports.

[Reporter]

Rival parties clashed again on Thursday over the Constitutional Court's decision on Wednesday, October 21, to partially grant an injunction regarding People Power Party Lawmaker Lee Jin-sook, ruling that while broadly restricting her attendance at parliamentary audits of broadcasting-related agencies is impermissible, she is excluded from matters directly related to herself, such as affairs from her past tenure as chair of the Korea Communications Commission.

When Lawmaker Lee attended the parliamentary audit of the Broadcasting, Media, and Communications Committee on Thursday, lawmakers from the broader ruling camp demanded she leave the room voluntarily to ensure the proceedings run smoothly.

[Lee Jeong-heon / Democratic Party Lawmaker: The core of this decision is clear. It means that a player cannot become a referee.]

People Power Party lawmakers fired back, demanding an apology for the broader ruling camp's passage of a comprehensive disqualification motion on October 12.

[Kim Jang-kyom / People Power Party Lawmaker: Isn't it true that you comprehensively blocked her from speaking and 'gagged' her? The Democratic Party must apologize, and...]

When Lawmaker Lee Jin-sook countered by claiming Democratic Party Lawmaker Han Jun-ho should also be subject to disqualification,

[Lee Jin-sook / People Power Party Lawmaker: Ranking member Han Jun-ho, who questioned the head of the KBS Journalists Association about matters concerning his own office, should rightfully be disqualified.]

Democratic Party lawmakers pushed back, calling it an attempt to dilute the issue.

[Kim Nam-kuk / Democratic Party Lawmaker: Isn't that false information? It is false information!]

[Han Jun-ho / Democratic Party Lawmaker: It is false information because it asserts definitively as if there was a phone call exerting external pressure and that I had ordered it.]

A war of nerves also broke out over an aide to Lawmaker Lee standing near Democratic Party lawmakers' seats and filming the audit chamber with a mobile phone.

[Kim Hyun / Democratic Party Lawmaker: You're not a reporter, are you? You are interfering with my legislative activities.]

[Lee Jin-sook / People Power Party Lawmaker: What does it matter whether they take videos or still photos!]

[Kim Hyun / Democratic Party Lawmaker: Then I will record video as well.]

A parliamentary audit of KBS and online platforms was also held on Thursday, but lawmakers were able to begin their main questioning only an hour after the session began.

(Video Reporting: Lee Seung-hwan, Shin Dong-hwan | Video Editing: Wi Won-yang)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.