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Park Jin-young, co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange. / Reporter Jeong Jae-hoon

The National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee and the Health and Welfare Committee each held plenary sessions on the 29th and passed lists of witnesses and reference witnesses to be summoned for next month's parliamentary audit, including Park Jin-young, co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange. In the Culture Committee, Park, who faces allegations over monopolizing trademark rights, was adopted as a witness according to his own wishes, whereas ruling and opposition parties in the Welfare Committee clashed sharply over alleged preferential treatment in clinical drug trials and the operation of the National Pension Service.

On that day, the Culture Committee passed motions requesting the attendance of 15 general witnesses, including Park, and 17 reference witnesses. The People Power Party had been demanding Park's attendance to investigate the budget execution of projects by the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange and the circumstances behind trademark filings. Culture Committee Chair Lee Jae-jung stated that Co-Chair Park Jin-young conveyed his intention to attend directly through the committee chair this morning, noting that Park expressed a proactive stance desiring a venue to deliver a work report to the public and provide thorough explanations much like an institutional witness, rather than appearing merely as a reference witness. Meanwhile, Representative Cho Eun-hee of the People Power Party called for adopting Director Hur Jin-ho of the film "Assassins" as a reference witness, arguing that cinematic imagination must not serve as an excuse for defaming the deceased, but the proposal fell through due to a lack of bipartisan agreement.

On the same day, ruling and opposition floor leaders clashed in the Health and Welfare Committee over lobbying allegations surrounding clinical trial approval for Genencell's COVID-19 treatment and the rebalancing of the National Pension Service portfolio. Opposition leader Representative Baek Jong-hean of the People Power Party argued for adopting related figures, asserting that the issue regarding Genencell concerns on what grounds the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved the trials, whether the drugs administered to 93 patients were safe, and who bears responsibility for the damage suffered by retail investors following sharp stock price fluctuations before and after trial approvals.

In response, ruling party leader Representative Seo Young-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea pushed back, arguing that a parliamentary audit is a forum to scrutinize whether the government executed its budget and policies properly, not a stage to target specific politicians. Amid the standoff between the ruling and opposition parties, the Welfare Committee first passed a measure on 179 institutional witnesses, 18 general witnesses, and 30 reference witnesses, while agreeing to negotiate additional witnesses at a later date.

                                                                                                              Shim Jun-bo