Ruling, opposition parties clash over Constitutional Court's partial ruling on Lee Jin-suk recusal

The ruling and opposition parties have traded sharp words over how to interpret the Constitutional Court's decision to partially suspend the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee's recusal of People Power Party Rep. Lee Jin-suk from the national audit.

The Democratic Party emphasized that the court upheld the recusal for matters directly involving Lee, while the People Power Party said the ruling amounted to the court siding with lawmakers' constitutionally guaranteed rights.

Democratic Party lawmakers and other opposition-aligned members of the committee held a press conference Thursday at the National Assembly's communication hall in Yeouido, saying Lee and the People Power Party were "trumpeting a political victory by highlighting only the partial suspension of the audit participation restriction." They added that Lee's presence in the committee chamber had been guaranteed throughout the national audit period and that she had never been removed from the hearing room.

"If Lee touts her already-guaranteed attendance as an achievement while ignoring the unfavorable parts of the ruling, that can only be seen as an imaginary victory," they said.

During a question-and-answer session that followed, the lawmakers stressed that "the recusal upheld by the Constitutional Court must also be observed in the actual conduct of the national audit." They added that they would "strictly block any attempt by Lee to access restricted matters and respond firmly to any distortion of the ruling or spread of false information."

Lee held her own press conference shortly afterward, saying the Constitutional Court had "put the brakes on the Democratic Party's tyranny of the majority." She argued that if the Democratic Party truly wanted a fair national audit, it should have moved to exclude Rep. Han Jun-ho — who leads the People Power Party's side on the committee — from the proceedings as well.

She added that Han had "directly questioned the head of the journalists' association during the Korea Broadcasting System national audit about a matter in which his own office was involved."

Lee went on to say she had asked committee chairman Song Ki-heon not to recuse her, telling him she would refrain from questioning matters she had decided while serving as Korea Communications Commission chairwoman. "Chairman Song ignored my request and put the agenda items submitted by Democratic Party members to a vote," she said, calling it "a clear act of discrimination."

The Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday to partially accept an injunction request filed by Lee and the People Power Party, deciding that Lee may attend the Korea Communications Commission national audit but may not speak on matters directly related to her. It was the first time the court had suspended the effect of a National Assembly vote to halt an audit.

Earlier, opposition-aligned committee members had put forward and passed a recusal motion at the Oct. 12 committee national audit, arguing that Lee faced a conflict of interest because matters she had decided and work she had carried out as Korea Communications Commission chairwoman were subject to audit.