The Democratic Party of Korea will hold a public hearing on the bills to establish the Prosecution Office and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency (Jung Su-cheong) that the government has preannounced for legislation. It also plans to hold a policy general meeting of lawmakers on the 15th to gather opinions from its members.
Park Soo-hyun, the Democratic Party senior spokesperson, met with reporters at the National Assembly press room on the 14th and said, "The public hearing on the Prosecution Office and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency is, of course, a common-sense schedule to be arranged," adding, "We should listen carefully to the public's opinions on the follow-up bills preannounced by the government."
She added, "Because the party has procedures for collecting opinions like a manual, various schedules are being arranged centered on the policy committee so that we can hear a range of views," and said, "What matters most is that an orderly debate will begin at tomorrow's (the 15th) general meeting of lawmakers."
The party ethics tribunal's decision to expel lawmaker Kim Byung-kee, who resigned as floor leader amid various misconduct allegations, is expected to be finalized by the end of this month after a retrial. The party ethics tribunal plans to reach a conclusion on the 29th regarding the retrial of the expulsion decision that Kim requested.
Park, the senior spokesperson, said, "If the ethics tribunal's retrial decision is made as scheduled on the 29th, the results will be reported to the supreme council meeting on the 20th and then put on the agenda of the general meeting of lawmakers for a vote by the members," adding, "The leadership is looking at the issue concerning Kim from the public's perspective and is swiftly handling the fact-finding."
In response to a question that "there is criticism that the disposition differs from that of lawmaker Jang Kyung-tae, who faces allegations of sexual misconduct," Park said, "Because an investigation is underway, the ethics inspection team, which is not an investigative agency, has no choice but to wait for the investigative agency's results," adding, "This is not an evasive answer that we will wait and see the results of the investigative agency's investigation."