Democratic Party lawmakers in Daegu's Gunwi-gun threaten tent protest, demand right to speak and request documents

Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers on the Gunwi-gun County Council in Daegu have publicly criticized the council leadership and county administration, saying their legislative activities are being restricted, and have announced plans to stage a tent protest.

County lawmakers Kim Hyun-ju and Lee Jong-mu said in a press release Friday that they were being obstructed in their legislative duties "due to the non-cooperation of the council speaker and the Gunwi-gun administration," and vowed to begin a tent sit-in "until our legitimate right to speak and right to request documents are recognized."

According to Kim, she had prepared a five-minute free-speech address raising concerns about road management and fiscal burdens stemming from Gunwi-gun's incorporation into Daegu, suspended projects, and public safety issues.

Kim said Council Speaker Seo Dae-sik revised her prepared remarks on the grounds that the content could make the county chief look incompetent, and also raised the possibility of friction with the administration and potential disadvantages for council staff.

Kim said the revision demands ultimately led to her speech being scrapped, and criticized Speaker Seo, questioning whether the council could properly check the administration under such conditions.

"If a lawmaker's policy remarks are challenged on the grounds that the county chief might look incompetent, and council staff are used as hostages, how can a lawmaker check the administration?" Kim said. "I cannot help but ask who Gunwi-gun County Council Speaker Seo Dae-sik is a lawmaker and speaker for."

Lee, meanwhile, said the administration was obstructing his legislative work in connection with his request for subsidy settlement documents from the Gunwi-gun saemaul chapter.

Lee said he had requested three years' worth of subsidy settlement records from the Gunwi-gun saemaul chapter, but the administration told him that copying the roughly 70,000 pages involved would paralyze operations, and even suggested that saemaul leaders and others might come to lodge in-person complaints.

"Verifying how subsidies funded by residents' taxes are spent and settled is a lawmaker's basic duty," Lee said. "Citing the volume of documents, the risk of operational paralysis, and the prospect of protests from related organizations can only be understood as pressure to abandon the document request."

The two lawmakers said the county council "is not an institution that protects the administration, but one that checks and monitors it on behalf of residents," and announced they would begin their tent protest Tuesday "until our legitimate right to speak, right to request documents, and residents' right to know are guaranteed."