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Interior Minister Yoon Ho-jung adjusts his glasses during a parliamentary audit session at the National Assembly in Seoul on October 14. / Source: Lee Byunghwa, Asia Today

At Tuesday’s parliamentary audit, lawmakers fiercely debated the government’s handling of the fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS), with opposition members denouncing leadership failures and ruling party lawmakers accusing them of politicizing the issue.

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) criticized the government for not following basic safety procedures, while controversy also erupted over President Lee Jae-myung’s recent appearance on a JTBC variety show shortly after the incident.

PPP Rep. Ko Dong-jin said during the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee session that the disaster stemmed from “a lack of compliance with basic protocols.” He argued that the battery involved in the fire was likely charged to around 80 percent at the time and that “the project manual failed to include instructions to discharge the battery below 30 percent and use insulation equipment before work.”

Interior Minister Yoon Ho-jung pledged a comprehensive review and preventive measures, saying, “We will ensure the most effective recovery considering the system damage and the impact on the public. Measures for recurrence prevention and a redesign of the system management framework will be jointly developed with relevant agencies.”

NIRS Director Lee Jae-yong acknowledged shortcomings, noting that “insufficient consideration was given to the project’s particularities, such as contractor selection and contract terms.”

Controversy deepened when PPP Rep. Park Deok-heum criticized President Lee and the first lady for recording JTBC’s “Please Take Care of My Refrigerator” soon after the fire. “This was a man-made disaster caused by the president’s lack of judgment and leadership,” Park said. “He filmed a TV show but visited the disaster site only two weeks later.”

Park added that “as opposition leader, Lee had once demanded the dismissal of a minister over a similar administrative network failure.”

Democratic Party Rep. Han Byung-do pushed back, saying, “We must call out attempts to distract from the substance of the issue. The claim that the president ignored the fire response because of a TV recording is a politically motivated frame.”

Minister Yoon also rejected comparisons to the Sewol ferry disaster, clarifying that “at the time of the NIRS fire, the president was on a flight returning from the UN General Assembly in the United States.”

The controversy extended to the parliamentary audit of the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, where some opposition lawmakers even called for summoning JTBC officials as witnesses.

Meanwhile, Hwang In-soo, director at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission—nicknamed “Mask Director” for refusing to remove his mask—was expelled from the audit session for the second consecutive year after defying a request from committee chair Shin Jung-hoon to remove it.