With the first regular National Assembly interpellation of the Lee Jae-myung administration set to run for four days starting on the 15th, the ruling and opposition parties are expected to clash head-on over a full range of issues including prosecution reform, a special court for insurrection, overseas detention cases, South Korea–U.S. tariff negotiations, and real estate, education, and social policies. The Democratic Party of Korea is pushing a "reform drive," while the People Power Party is vowing to "judge one-party dominance and incompetence," setting up a fight to seize the initiative.
According to the National Assembly on the 14th, this interpellation will proceed in the following order: politics on the 15th, diplomacy, unification and security on the 16th, economy on the 17th, and education, society and culture on the 18th.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea plans to put front and center the need for reform of the prosecution, judiciary and media. With the government organization act revision bill that includes dismantling the Prosecutors' Office and separating investigation and indictment up for handling, the party intends to focus on confirming follow-up measures and detailed blueprints from the government.
During the interpellation, differences between the party and the government over the right to supplementary investigation could emerge as a key point of contention. President Lee Jae-myung said at a news conference marking the 100th day in office on the 11th, "Prosecution reform must be judged coolly, excluding emotions and one's own position as much as possible," adding, "We must also find the optimal plan for issues such as the supplementary investigation matter, where there are differences." The remarks, which reveal a temperature gap with hard-liners in the party who demand the complete abolition of the right to supplementary investigation, suggest that questions and answers over the issue will continue during the interpellation.
Along with this, the Democratic Party plans to stress the need for judicial reform through increasing the number of Supreme Court justices and for media reform by introducing a treble damages system for media outlets. On the first day in the politics field, the party will put lawmaker Park Sung-joon at the forefront, and in diplomacy and security it will deploy former Unification Minister Lee In-young, Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee secretary lawmaker Kim Young-bae, and lawmakers Kim Byung-joo, Kim Young-bae, Boo Seung-chan and Park Sun-won. In the economy field, it will assign lawmakers Kwon Chil-seung and Jung Tae-ho.
The People Power Party, by contrast, has signaled an offensive by defining the ruling party's push to create a special court for insurrection as "a violation of the separation of powers." It also plans to highlight the government's incompetence by labeling the detention of Koreans in the state of Georgia and the South Korea–U.S. tariff negotiations as diplomatic disasters.
The People Power Party will field lawmaker Lim Lee-ja first on the opening day in politics, followed by lawmakers Shin Sung-beom and Kwak Kyu-taek, deploy lawmakers Bae Joon-young, Kim Geon and Park Chung-kwon in diplomacy and security, and assign lawmakers Kim Sang-hoon and Lee Heon-seung in the economy field. On the final day, five-term senior lawmaker Na Kyung-won will step to the forefront to ratchet up the offensive.