The ruling and opposition parties clashed at the National Assembly over construction errors in the Samsung Station section of the GTX-A line. The Democratic Party of Korea raised questions about responsibility for People Power Party Seoul mayoral candidate Oh Se-hoon, saying the Seoul Metropolitan Government did not report immediately. The People Power Party countered that the city reported the matter to the railway corporation and said the Democratic Party was spreading false information.
The parties clashed over the issue at the Public Administration and Security Committee's full meeting on the 18th. The Democratic Party argued that even though defects such as missing rebar were found, the Seoul Metropolitan Government did not immediately report the fact to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and said candidate Oh, who was in office at the time, bears responsibility.
Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Hae-sik said, "The person with ultimate responsibility for supervising the city's construction is naturally the mayor of Seoul," and noted, "A serious defect occurred, but who would believe that only the head of the Urban Infrastructure Headquarters knew and it was not reported to the mayor?"
Chae Hyun-il, a lawmaker from the same party, said, "Even after knowing that rebar was missing, construction continued for six months, abandoning the safety and lives of 10 million citizens," and urged the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to launch a joint audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Government with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT).
In response, the People Power Party pushed back, saying the Democratic Party was spreading false information, citing that the Seoul Metropolitan Government notified Korea National Railway, an agency under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), immediately after becoming aware of it. They pointed to the fact that after the city recognized the issue on Nov. 10 last year, it notified the corporation three times with construction management reports.
People Power Party lawmaker Park Su-min, citing testimony by Im Chun-geun, head of the Seoul Urban Infrastructure Headquarters who appeared that day, argued, "Even though it was reported to the railway corporation, for Democratic Party lawmakers to say before the entire nation that Mayor Oh concealed the case for six months is false information."
Aiming at Democratic Party Seoul mayoral candidate Chong Won-o, who demanded an explanation from candidate Oh, the lawmaker said, "How can a person who is a party's official candidate brazenly spread falsehoods?" and criticized Minister Yoon Ho-jung of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS), asking, "Are you not cracking down on rumors?"
Ko Dong-jin, a lawmaker from the same party, said, "It makes no sense to say the city intentionally tried to cover this up," and added, "Too many people are trying to paint this as a grotesque rumor; let's show some restraint." He also signaled plans to file a complaint against candidate Chong for allegedly spreading false information.
The meeting saw tensions between the parties even before it began. When People Power Party lawmakers put phrases targeting candidate Chong—such as "Cancun junket," "forced overnight stay," and "police assault"—on their laptops, the Democratic Party took issue and strongly protested, with shouting erupting even before the meeting started.