The rival parties discussed for nearly two hours on the 28th whether to adopt witnesses for the National Assembly's Steering Committee audit, but the talks ultimately broke down. They failed to find common ground on the time slot for the appearance of Presidential Secretariat No. 1 Senior Aide Kim Hyun-ji, the key point of contention.
Moon Jin-seok, senior deputy floor leader for steering, met reporters after a meeting with the opposition held at the National Assembly that afternoon and said, "We agreed on all institutional witnesses, but failed to reach a deal on ordinary witnesses," adding, "We (the Democratic Party) need to conduct an 'insurrection audit,' so we requested the appearance of former presidential office staff as witnesses, and the People Power Party requested as witnesses the Senior Aide Kim, including the presidential office's personnel, legal, civil affairs, and public office discipline secretaries, the Spokesperson, and Kim's husband."
Moon said, "The issue that draws the most interest is Senior Aide Kim. We proposed having the appearance in the morning because the presidential office has to handle its schedule, but the People Power Party insisted the appearance should last until 3 to 4 p.m., when the main questioning ends, and did not accept it, so the agreement fell apart."
He added, "Serving three months as secretary for general affairs is unprecedented," and said, "(Even so) we proposed an appearance in the morning, but the other side did not accept it."
In response, Yoo Sang-beom, the People Power Party's senior deputy floor leader for steering, said, "The Democratic Party said it would have Senior Aide Kim appear only in the morning, but various work reports are conducted in the morning, so in effect it would be only an hour of appearance. It is merely for a formal pretext," adding, "The People Power Party's position is that the public's suspicions can be resolved only if she appears as a witness at least during the main questioning and answers questions."
He went on, "The Democratic Party cited the pretext that at 2 p.m. on Nov. 6 (the Steering Committee audit day) the presidential schedule must be carried out, but schedules do not go wrong just because the senior aide is absent," and criticized, "It amounts to saying they will block the questioning time entirely. Such a perfunctory appearance is meaningless."
He also said, "Under the pretext of an insurrection audit, the Democratic Party applied for about 50 witnesses, including former President Yoon Suk-yeol and his spouse," claiming, "It is a witness application intended not to have Senior Aide Kim appear."
The two parties left room for additional consultations until the morning of the 29th before the full Steering Committee meeting, but it is expected to be difficult to narrow their differences.