With two days left until the start of this year's regular National Assembly audit, the ruling and opposition parties clashed on the 11th over whether Presidential Secretariat Deputy Minister Kim Hyun-ji should attend. The People Power Party argued that Kim should appear at the audit to resolve public suspicions, while the Democratic Party of Korea countered that the attendance demand was a political offensive.
Park Sung-hoon, senior spokesperson for the People Power Party, said in a commentary that "calling a mysterious public official to the audit to clear public suspicions is a legitimate demand by the opposition. Dismissing this as political strife is a lame excuse," adding, "If Kim had simply appeared before the National Assembly from the beginning and explained all suspicions, that would have sufficed. Instead, sticking to shabby excuses and only looking for a way out will only amplify public doubt."
He continued, "While the Democratic Party threatens to haul Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae into a confirmation hearing, it shows a double standard by throwing everything into blocking the adoption of Deputy Minister Kim as a witness for the audit," asking, "Is a presidential Deputy Minister a more powerful figure than the chief justice, who ranks third in protocol?"
Choi Eun-seok, the party's senior floor spokesperson, said in a commentary that the presidential office's personnel move just before the audit—reassigning Kim from secretary for general affairs to Deputy Minister—showed that "Kim is not a mere 'storehouse keeper,' but the 'power above the power' in the presidential office, effectively reigning as the de facto lady of the house, as the presidential office itself has revealed to the public." Choi urged, "The Democratic Party should immediately stop its arrogant and absurd conduct to turn the audit into an empty shell and ensure that Kim appears at the audit without fail."
The Democratic Party fired back with its own commentary. Baek Seung-ah, the party's floor spokesperson, said, "The People Power Party's demand to call witnesses from the presidential office is a highly impure political offensive," criticizing it as "an attempt to hamstring the presidential office of the Lee Jae-myung administration, which launched only four months ago, and a political ploy to cover up allegations of state capture under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration."
She went on, "Does a party that tolerated two episodes of behind-the-scenes state capture have any standing to invoke the presidential office?" and pointed out, "It is nonsense and shameless for the People Power Party to bandy about claims that a presidential aide is the power above the power or the de facto lady of the house."
Democratic Party lawmaker Park Gee-won said on Facebook, "People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok and floor leader Song Eon-seok, the so-called 'Jang-Song trouble brothers,' are making a misjudgment in weighing the weight class of the chief justice and the Deputy Minister," asserting, "They are lowering the chief justice's weight class and raising the Deputy Minister's." He added, "In judo, boxing, and wrestling, matches are held within the same weight class," and said, "Kim Hyun-ji, the Deputy Minister, is not even part of a treason-sympathizing group."