PPP boycotts vote on judicial expansion

[Anchor]

As the so-called Supreme Court Justice Expansion Act passed the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee under the leadership of the ruling party, to which the People Power Party has reacted by calling it legislative dictatorship and political fraud.

Internally, there are growing concerns about the lack of effective means to stop the ruling party's legislative push.

Reporter Lee Yoo-min has the details.

[Report]

People Power Party lawmakers did not participate in the vote at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

As the so-called 'Supreme Court Justice Expansion Act' passed the subcommittee, they strongly opposed it.

They called it 'blatant legislative dictatorship' and immediately demanded its withdrawal.

[Jang Dong-hyuk/Member of the People Power Party Legislation and Judiciary Committee: "This is a law that allows President Lee Jae-myung to increase the number of justices to 16 to ultimately create a majority of justices who will side with him."]

The People Power Party particularly targeted President Lee Jae-myung.

They said that throughout his campaign, Lee claimed to have given instructions to refrain from discussing the increase of justices, but that his stance changed just 10 hours after becoming president.

[Yoo Sang-beom/Member of the People Power Party Legislation and Judiciary Committee: "In less than a day, he pushed through a bill to increase the number by 30. Can we not call this a 'political fraud' for deceiving the public and using them for the election?"]

They criticized the lack of proper deliberation, anticipating a massive transformation of the judiciary in terms of budget, personnel, and space.

[Joo Jin-woo/Member of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee/People Power Party: "This is the only time the discussion is happening. I think it will inevitably cause great confusion for the public."]

The People Power Party is also seeking countermeasures regarding the so-called three major special investigation laws, including the insurrection special investigation law, which will be presented to the National Assembly plenary session tomorrow (Jun. 5th) under the ruling party's leadership.

They plan to hold a party meeting just before the plenary session to gather their party's stance, but they are troubled by the fact that there is no effective way to block it since the presidential veto power has disappeared with the change of government.

It is also a concern that some lawmakers who previously supported the special investigation laws still maintain their supportive stance.

This is KBS News reporter Lee Yoo-min.