[사설] The first audit of the 22nd National Assembly was more focused on politics than the people’s livelihood.

Panoramic view of the National Assembly building. Yonhap News

The government audit, which was conducted for the first time by the 22nd National Assembly since its opening at the end of May, was expected to be a policy audit that takes care of the people’s livelihood, appreciates and criticizes the government’s mistakes, and suggests alternatives, using the 21st National Assembly, which disappointed the people, as a teacher. . The expectations I had ‘just in case’ were dashed without a doubt. Due to political strife between the ruling and opposition parties, the audit of government affairs ended with a consistent ‘as expected.’

The 22nd National Assembly audit, which started on the 7th, was virtually concluded with a comprehensive audit of 13 standing committees on the 25th, excluding the Steering Committee, Information Committee, Gender Equality and Family Committee, and Planning and Finance Committee. The audit of state affairs, along with the deliberation of budget and accounts, is an important function of the National Assembly to keep the executive branch in check. It was revived by the 1987 constitutional amendment, and the National Assembly has made efforts to faithfully perform this function.

However, as time passes, it has become a place for political disputes rather than policy audits for the people’s livelihood, causing disappointment to the people. The ‘Government Audit NGO Monitoring Group’, a civic group that evaluates the National Assembly’s audit of government affairs every year, said of the audit conducted over the past three weeks, “The audit function was lost and it was a political audit that treated the audited agency like a criminal,” and said that this year’s audit was at the worst level. It was rated ‘D-‘.

This audit of the National Assembly was a consistent audit as the issues related to First Lady Kim Kun-hee and Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung were a political battle that sucked other agenda items from almost all standing committees. Moreover, in the latter half of the National Assembly audit, the political strife between the ruling and opposition parties seemed to intensify as the ‘Myeong Tae-gyun incident’ occurred, which was the core of suspicions about Ms. Kim’s involvement in the nomination. In particular, the audit of the National Assembly’s Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, which was broadcast live on TV on the 24th, involved harsh words and gossip that were difficult to hear in the public. Can this really be said to be a legislative activity carried out in the sacred hall of public opinion?

The old-fashioned bad practice of auditing government affairs was repeated again this time. In some cases, dozens of organizations were called in a day and not a single question was asked, and in other cases, celebrities or businessmen who are not particularly related to the work of the relevant standing committee are randomly selected as witnesses. Isn’t this an inefficient National Assembly inspection? As for the adoption of general witnesses, the Judiciary Committee had 6 cases last year, but 85 cases this year, and the Oversight Committee had 0 cases last year, but reached 216 cases this year.

People’s livelihoods are becoming more difficult day by day, and the closure of self-employed people is increasing. The international situation is rapidly changing day by day due to the North Korean military’s participation in the Ukraine War, and with tensions on the Korean Peninsula rising, the people are truly anxious as the National Assembly is only engaging in political strife instead of taking care of the people’s livelihood. We earnestly hope that the National Assembly returns to its original function and takes care of the difficult lives of the people.

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