[Anchor]

Today (October 8), the National Assembly is conducting parliamentary audits across nine standing committees, including the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. At the Judiciary Committee's audit of the Ministry of Justice, clashes between the ruling and opposition parties are expected over the launch of the Prosecution Office and investigations related to President Lee Jae-myung.

Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon reports.

[Reporter]

The National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit of the Ministry of Justice and other agencies.

Although scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., it failed to get underway properly as the ruling and opposition parties clashed over Committee Chair Seo Young-kyo's decision to suspend speaking privileges for an opposition committee member during the Supreme Court audit two days ago.

[Park Hyung-soo / Member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee (People Power Party) : Representative Park Eun-jung started those remarks (toward Representative Kim Tae-gyu), telling him to 'become a decent human being,' and Representative Kim Yong-min followed up by saying 'he has never been human'... When asked 'Why are you doing that?', they only suspended Representative Kim Tae-gyu's speaking privileges.]

[Kim Yong-min / Member of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee (Democratic Party) : (Representative Kim Tae-gyu) kept making sarcastic remarks and suddenly began criticizing and mocking the late former President Roh Moo-hyun. At the very least, Representative Kim Tae-gyu does not deserve to sit here, nor does he have the right to speak.]

The Legislation and Judiciary Committee audit finally got underway about an hour late, with Vice Minister of Justice Lee Jin-soo attending as acting minister in place of the vacant justice minister post to deliver a work report.

[Lee Jin-soo / Vice Minister of Justice : (Following the launch of the Prosecution Office,) we will devise various cooperation measures between prosecutors and investigative agencies to ensure the public's protection is not neglected, and continuously monitor the operation of the system...]

In today's audit of the Justice Ministry, clashes between the ruling and opposition parties are expected over the Prosecution Office launched on October 2 and the new criminal justice system.

Clashes are also anticipated over trials related to President Lee Jae-myung, with the broader pro-government bloc claiming they were fabricated indictments by the prosecution and the opposition arguing that the prosecution service was even dismantled just to drop the charges.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly Finance, Economy, and Planning Committee's audit of the Ministry of Planning and Budget was temporarily disrupted as ruling and opposition lawmakers clashed over picket signs held by opposition lawmakers criticizing the Future Response Fund.

(Video by Oh Young-choon and Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by Oh Young-taek)