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Schedule for audit agreed on by parties

Published: 10 Sep. 2009, 01:02

The ruling and opposition parties agreed yesterday on the schedule to audit the Lee Myung-bak administration for next month, concluding the legislative time line for the regular session.

According to the Grand National and Democratic parties’ spokesmen, floor leaders of the two parties held a negotiation yesterday morning and agreed that the audits will take place from Oct. 5 to 24.

The 100-day regular session opened on Sept. 1, but the ruling and opposition parties had struggled to agree on the schedule until yesterday. When to have the government audits was a thorny part of the negotiation.

The Grand Nationals had demanded the audits begin this month ahead of the Oct. 28 by-elections but the Democrats had wanted to scrutinize government offices starting Oct. 5.

According to the agreement signed between the two parties’ floor leaders - Ahn Sang-soo of the GNP and Lee Kang-rae of the DP - the first voting session will take place on Sept. 16, when lawmakers will vote on the resolution for the appointment of the new supreme court justice, Min Il-young.

The two sides also agreed on beginning operations of standing committees as soon as possible to review pending bills. The special committee on budget and accounting will begin reviewing next year’s budget bills from Sept. 18, while also closing last year’s accounts.

The GNP and the DP have different opinions about next year’s government budget, which includes allocating funds to the four river restoration projects. The Grand Nationals are expected to push forward the 20 trillion won ($15.5 billion) program, while the Democrats demand the government present more convincing explanations about the project.

Voting sessions will also take place on Sept. 28 and 29 on President Lee’s recent designation of Chung Un-chan as his new prime minister.

The GNP and DP had already agreed to hold confirmation hearings for Lee’s new cabinet members and the Supreme Court justice designate. The confirmation hearing for Min, the Supreme Court justice-designate, will take place next Monday. Lee’s six minister nominees will attend confirmation hearings from Tuesday through Friday.

Confirmation hearings for the prime minister-designate are scheduled for Sept. 21 and 22.

By Ser Myo-ja [[email protected]]