Rival parties clash over failed summons of First Lady

[Anchor]

Today (10.21), the National Assembly's Legislative and Judiciary Committee, led by the opposition party, issued a summons for First Lady Kim Keon-hee and her mother, Choi Eun-soon.

However, the execution was unsuccessful.

The ruling and opposition parties clashed over the prosecution's decision of no charges regarding the stock manipulation allegations against Kim and the Democratic Party's push for the impeachment of the prosecutor.

Min Jeong-hee reports.

[Report]

The ruling and opposition parties engaged in a verbal battle from the start over the absence of the summoned witnesses, First Lady Kim Keon-hee and her mother, Choi Eun-soon.

When the opposition demanded the issuance of a summons for the two, the ruling party retaliated, calling it an act of humiliation.

[Kwak Gyu-taek/National Assembly Legislative and Judiciary Committee/People Power Party: "There has been no precedent, and in this situation, issuing a summons for the First Lady seems to have no meaning other than to humiliate."]

[Park Kyun-taek/National Assembly Legislative and Judiciary Committee/Democratic Party: "Isn't Kim Keon-hee an unprecedented First Lady? Because of Kim Keon-hee, our rule of law is being ignored, the regime is in crisis, and the people are suffering...."]

Opposition lawmakers attempted to deliver the summons at the presidential residence in Hannam-dong but were unable to do so due to police obstruction.

The opposition reaffirmed its plan to impeach the Prosecutor General and the Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, while the ruling party countered that it was retaliation against the prosecutor investigating Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung.

[Lee Geon-tae/National Assembly Legislative and Judiciary Committee/Democratic Party: "I am very, very negative about how we can give investigative powers to a prosecution that kneels before the current power."]

[Park Jun-taek/National Assembly Legislative and Judiciary Committee/People Power Party: "The real intention is to retaliate against the prosecutors who investigated Representative Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party and to show them a lesson."]

Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung stated that if an appeal is made regarding the stock manipulation allegations involving the First Lady, he would exercise his investigative authority and directly review the case.

KBS News, Min Jeong-hee.