'Questioning Cheong Wa Dae's Economic Policies'... Ruling and Opposition Parties at Odds Over Kim Yong-beom as National Audit Witness

[Financial News] The ruling and opposition parties are sharply divided over whether to call former Cheong Wa Dae policy chief Kim Yong-beom as a witness for the parliamentary audit. The People Power Party is seeking Kim's attendance at various economic standing committees to question how key economic policies of the current government—including tax reform, single-stock leveraged ETFs and semiconductor investment in the Honam region—were decided. The Democratic Party of Korea, however, has expressed reluctance to summon a former Cheong Wa Dae official as a witness before individual committees.
The National Assembly Finance and Economic Committee held a plenary meeting on the 28th and initially approved requests for six general witnesses and four reference witnesses to appear at the parliamentary audit. Kim was left off the initial list. Witnesses and reference witnesses not agreed upon by the ruling and opposition parties will be approved later following consultations between their respective committee secretaries.
The issue of calling Kim as a witness emerged publicly during the meeting. Bae Jun-young, the People Power Party's opposition-party secretary on the committee, said, "His attendance is necessary to determine what discussions went into drafting this tax reform plan and what consultations and judgments took place between Cheong Wa Dae and the government." Bae stressed, "We must not repeat an investigation without the key party involved, as happened at the previous hearing and now at this parliamentary audit."
The Democratic Party of Korea agreed on the need for the National Assembly to oversee the government but drew a line at the request, saying the matter must fall under the appropriate committee's jurisdiction. Oh Gi-hyoung, the party's secretary on the committee, said that if the issue concerned a meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae, it would be appropriate to select witnesses and discuss it through the House Steering Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Cheong Wa Dae secretariat and policy office.
The People Power Party's effort to bring Kim before the parliamentary audit is not limited to the Finance and Economic Committee. At the Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee, the party had also requested Kim, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won as witnesses in connection with investment in a semiconductor cluster in the Honam region. After the Democratic Party of Korea opposed the request, the initial selection of Kim and the others as witnesses failed on the 22nd.
At the National Policy Committee, the single-stock leveraged ETF is cited as the reason for requesting Kim's appearance as a witness. The People Power Party says Kim should be called in to determine who first proposed the product and what discussions led to its adoption as policy. Kim was one of the participants in a closed-door meeting in January at which the product's introduction was reportedly discussed. However, by that afternoon, the National Policy Committee had not only failed to reach an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties on calling Kim as a witness, but had not even begun substantive discussions on its list of witnesses and reference witnesses.
Democratic Party of Korea members of the National Policy Committee held a separate meeting that afternoon to discuss matters related to the parliamentary audit. The party plans to approve the audit schedule and general witnesses after consultations between the ruling and opposition party secretaries. However, with witness negotiations unable to get off the ground, the tug-of-war over whether Kim will appear is expected to continue for the time being.
[email protected] Song Ji-won Reporter