Lee Jinsook Calls Science and Communications Committee Audit Exclusion "Gagging"... Files Competence Dispute Petition at Constitutional Court

People Power Party Calls Ruling-Party-Led Vote to Exclude Lee "Unconstitutional"

Rep. Lee Jinsook of the People Power Party criticized a ruling-party-led resolution by the National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee to exclude her from its parliamentary audit, saying, “The Democratic Party of Korea took away my right to speak in the legislature, in the National Assembly, solely because it holds a majority—and did so in a standing committee, not even at a plenary session.” She called it “gagging me.”

Yonhap News Agency

Lee made the remarks to reporters this afternoon before submitting an application for an injunction to suspend the effect of the resolution excluding her and a petition for adjudication of a competence dispute at the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Rep. Kim Taegyu, chair of the People Power Party’s legal advisory committee, and Rep. Kim Jangyeom, a member of the committee, accompanied her.

On Oct. 12, the committee voted to exclude Lee, a former chair of the Korea Communications Commission (now the Broadcasting and Media Communications Commission), from the parliamentary audit of the commission and other bodies, citing a potential conflict of interest.

Lee explained that her tenure as chair of the commission “lasted only four to five months,” adding, “An impeachment motion was introduced on my second day in office, and I was impeached on my third day, leaving me unable to perform my duties for 174 days.” By contrast, she said, Rep. Kim Hyun of the Democratic Party, who had served on the commission for three years, later worked on the committee, and questioned the fairness of the decision.

“If I have a conflict of interest, then Rep. Kim must have had matters involving a conflict of interest several times over,” Lee said. She added, “The people will show that majority rule can become tyranny and mob rule, and that a majority does not necessarily represent justice. I ask the people to share their anger and hold them accountable.”

The People Power Party maintains that the committee’s resolution to exclude Lee is unconstitutional. Rep. Kim said at the event, “There is no provision anywhere in the law allowing one legislator to exclude a fellow legislator.” He also said the decision was made by people without the authority to do so and was “tantamount to not existing.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.