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Lawmakers Na Kyung-won and Park Seon-won clashed sharply over whether Park should be disqualified from the special committee investigating the fatal shooting of government officials in the West Sea.
On the 21st, at the Special Committee probing allegations of politically motivated prosecutions under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won said, “Today’s session is about the West Sea officials’ case. Park Seon-won, who served as the National Intelligence Service (NIS) policy chief at the time, cannot sit on this panel.” She added, “Article 13 of the Act on the Audit and Investigation of State Affairs covers disqualification and recusal. It states that a committee member who has a direct interest or other compelling reasons preventing impartiality may not participate in the audit or investigation for that matter.”
Na continued, “Under Article 9 of the NIS Act, the policy chief assists the director and, when necessary, acts on the director’s behalf. Park Seon-won’s role as policy chief during the West Sea incident is a clear ground for questioning his impartiality under Article 13, and it also constitutes disciplinary grounds under Article 17. He should be disqualified — either the committee should vote to disqualify him, or Park should recuse himself.”
Park Seon-won of the Democratic Party rebutted, “The NIS policy chief has such limited access to core intelligence that he cannot even view SI-level reports. After the incident, a report arrived on my desk and I returned it, saying, ‘I should not see this,’ and ordered that the intelligence be controlled. After that, I was not in a position to track developments in this case.”
Park added, “It seems Na Kyung-won is quite afraid. Making the West Sea shooting the first official agenda item of the National Security Council on May 24, 2022 would not have happened without a special order from President Yoon Suk-yeol. Acting on Yoon’s directive, the National Security Council held working-level and standing-committee meetings and pushed this as the administration’s top-priority project.”
As Park spoke, People Power Party lawmaker Shin Dong-wook interjected. Shin shouted, “Stick to your own story. Why did a bad actor come in here?” Park shot back, “Shin Dong-wook, be quiet. You just came back from trial — what can someone who attends treason trials even say?” Pointing to the People Power Party benches, Park shouted, “These people are a pro-treason faction. Na Kyung-won stood guard in Hannam-dong; Yoon Sang-hyun went into the detention center with Yoon Suk-yeol when he was released; Shin Dong-wook opposed the vote to rescind martial law and dragged Chu Kyung-ho into it. They sit here and fear the special committee, which has taken up the West Sea shooting — the opening act of treason — along with the Daejang-dong and Ssangbangwool cases. Now they’re having a final tantrum.”
When Na shouted, “Look at Article 9 of the NIS Act,” Park replied even louder, “You should disqualify Na Kyung-won for violating the National Assembly’s procedure law and for holding a separate state investigation. Na Kyung-won, Shin Dong-wook, and Yoon Sang-hyun do not deserve to be here.” Na then broke into near-laughter, and Shin and Yoon also laughed in disbelief.
Park continued, “They are core collaborators in an insurrection; they condoned the West Sea shooting — the start of that insurrection — and conspired with these witnesses. Two weeks into the administration, with nothing better to do, they used these documents to convene the NSC standing committee and working-level coordination meetings — carrying out Yoon Suk-yeol’s directive to target former President Moon Jae-in.” Shin again shouted, “Talk about your qualifications as a special committee member!” The video captured the chaotic, mic-less showdown between Na and Park over the effort to disqualify a committee member in the West Sea shooting case.
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