Shouting, Abusive Language, and a 'Shorts' Race: Policy Scrutiny Takes a Back Seat

[Anchor]

The National Assembly's parliamentary audit concluded today (October 30). This year was especially marked by a flood of shouting, abusive language, and provocative remarks. Criticisms even emerged calling it a "'Shorts' audit," pointing out that lawmakers' erratic antics turned the sessions into a race solely for online video views.

Reporter Jeon Yeon-nam reports.

[Reporter]

During the audit of Gyeonggi Province, Governor Choo Mi-ae sparked debate with her "straw" remark.

[Choo Mi-ae / Gyeonggi Governor (October 13): "Firefighting services seem to be the most troublesome financial straw."]

Just as the issue seemed to quiet down, a defense offered by a Democratic Party lawmaker only fueled the controversy.

[Boo Seung-chan / Democratic Party Lawmaker (October 19): "Aren't they really sucking up our finances?"]

The Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which churned out numerous YouTube Shorts videos, resembled a "contest of vulgar language."

[Kwak Kyu-taek / People Power Party Lawmaker (October 8): "They ordered 18 servings of meat. Shouldn't each person eat one serving? One person ate six servings!"]

[Seo Young-kyo / Chair of National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee (Democratic Party Lawmaker, October 8): "Aren't you resorting to personal attacks?"]

The turmoil continued outside the audit hearing rooms as well.

[Joo Jin-woo / People Power Party Lawmaker (October 26): "Why did you hold so many strategy meetings after sending all the aides away?"]

[Seo Young-kyo / Chair of National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee (Democratic Party Lawmaker, October 26): "Oh Se-hoon was acquitted, does that make any sense!"]

In the audit of the Ministry of Unification, the most frequently used word was undoubtedly "landmine."

[Han Dong-hoon / Independent Lawmaker (October 27): "If I secretly sneak in front of Minister Chung's house and plant a landmine, wouldn't that be a landmine attack by Han Dong-hoon?"]

A replica landmine even made an appearance.

[Park Choong-kwon / People Power Party Lawmaker (October 27): "I would like to place a North Korean landmine in front of Minister Chung Dong-young. Would you allow that?"]

[Chung Dong-young / Unification Minister (October 27): "A parliamentary audit is supposed to be a forum for serious debate on state affairs..."]

One civic group gave this year's parliamentary audit a failing grade of "F."

It cited reasons including that lawmakers focused on scrutinizing the qualifications of rival party members rather than examining policies.

The heads of 245 institutions, accounting for about 31% of all audited agencies, were found not to have received even a single question during the hearings.

Starting next week, the political battle over the government budget will begin in earnest.

Clashes between the ruling and opposition parties are expected within the 820-trillion-won budget, particularly over a 162-trillion-won future response fund utilizing surplus tax revenues from the semiconductor sector.

(Video by Oh Young-choon and Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by Yoo Mi-ra)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.