[Actually] The politics of 'rep. disciplinary' seen from 'Shin Hyun-young's request for disciplinary action'

The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to extend the government investigation into the Itaewon disaster by 10 days.

However, only the period was agreed upon.

The power of the people is demanding the adoption of witnesses for Congressman Shin Hyun-young of the Democratic Party.

On the day of the disaster, Congressman Shin, a former doctor, boarded the doctor car, an emergency dispatch vehicle of the Disaster Medical Support Team at Myongji Hospital, and moved to the scene.

In the process, it became known that Congressman Shin's spouse rode in Dr. Car and arrived at the scene later than support teams from other hospitals in a similar distance, raising suspicions that the rescue operation was disrupted.

Earlier, 20 members of the People's Power also submitted a disciplinary proposal to the Ethics Committee of the National Assembly last month.

The disciplinary action contains the content that Congressman Shin violated the obligation to prohibit abuse of power and maintain dignity stipulated in the National Assembly Act.

This is the 34th in the 21st National Assembly and the 12th disciplinary bill since the launch of the Yoon Seok-yeol government.

Some criticized that the disciplinary bill for lawmakers was becoming a tool for political disputes.

It is because the ruling and opposition parties are issuing disciplinary measures.

There were also several media reports.

In particular, it peaked during the government audit in October of last year.

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There are many political controversies regarding this issue, but today the fact check is going to focus on the disciplinary proposal.

It is a task to check through past data how many disciplinary measures were initiated.

Let's take a look at the hypothesis that "a lot of disciplinary measures were proposed when the political conflict was severe."

The SBS Fact Check team analyzed the facts.

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What is the disciplinary procedure for lawmakers?

In fact, the team analyzed all the disciplinary measures of the National Assembly members posted on the National Assembly Bill Information System (https://likms.assembly.go.kr/bill/main.do).

The period is from the 13th National Assembly after democratization to the 21st National Assembly.

Before discussing, first, let's look at the disciplinary process for members of the National Assembly.

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Like bills, disciplinary measures can be initiated by more than 20 lawmakers, the speaker of the National Assembly, and the chairperson of the standing committee.

Members of Congress who have been insulted here can also demand discipline.

Then, the discussion begins in the special ethics committee composed of lawmakers.

In this process, you can ask for opinions from the Ethics Review Advisory Committee installed in the National Assembly, and the Special Ethics Committee will determine the level of disciplinary action by referring to the opinions of the advisory committee.

The opinions of the Advisory Committee are for reference only and are not binding.

If the Ethics Committee decides on the level of disciplinary action, the agenda is passed on to the plenary session of the National Assembly.

If approved by the plenary session, the disciplinary action is executed, and if it is rejected, it is discarded.

As a result of analyzing the total number of disciplinary proposals, a total of 280 disciplinary proposals were found after democratization.

Among the 280 disciplinary proposals, 87.5% (245) were discarded due to the expiration of the term of office or withdrawn according to the will of lawmakers, and 33 cases are awaiting processing in the 21st National Assembly.

There were only two disciplinary measures that were passed at the plenary session.

In 2011, former lawmaker Kang Yong-seok, who caused controversy over the announcer's sexual harassment remarks, was treated as 'suspending attendance at the National Assembly on the 30th', and then last year, Rep. Kim Ki-hyun, the power of the people.

He was suspended from attending the National Assembly on the 30th for occupying the seat of the judiciary chairman in the process of the so-called 'complete review' legislative confrontation, a result that was possible due to the exercise of the power of the Democratic Party, which occupies the majority of the seats in the National Assembly.

Rep. Kim immediately applied for an injunction to suspend the effect of disciplinary action, and the Constitutional Court cited the injunction.

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In June of last year, a disciplinary bill against Rep. Kim Ki-hyun of the People's Power was being processed at the plenary session of the National Assembly.

Some media outlets write that in the case of former lawmaker Shim Hak-bong, who was investigated for sexual assault in 2015, the expulsion was decided. When he resigned, the disciplinary proposal was discarded at the end of his term.

Anyway, after democratization, the approval rate for disciplinary actions by lawmakers was 0.7%, with only two out of 280 cases.

This is why criticism continues to come out that the discussion of the disciplinary bill cannot be done properly because the members of the National Assembly are doing 'self-examination'.

The highest number during the Lee Myung-bak administration...

Massive initiatives at the end of the year

Then, let's take a closer look at the analysis results.

Cases where 7 or more were initiated at one time were flagged separately.

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In the early days after democratization, there were not many cases in which disciplinary measures for lawmakers were initiated.

However, in March 1998, right after the establishment of the Kim Dae-jung government, disciplinary measures began to pour in.

It was at the time of the so-called 'Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil confirmation wave'.

A total of 25 cases were submitted.

At the time, President Kim Dae-jung nominated Kim Jong-pil, honorary president of the Liberal Democrats at the time, as the first prime minister, but in the situation of the opposition parties, the Grand National Party (predecessor of the people's power) refused to approve it for reasons such as participation in the 5/16 coup.

At that time, in the process of voting on the appointment motion, some members of the Grand National Party voted blank by putting unmarked ballot papers in the ballot box.

Accordingly, lawmakers from the ruling party, the National Assembly and the United Liberal Democrats, blocked the votes of lawmakers from the Grand National Party, citing violations of the National Assembly Act, and lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties entangled in a mess with abusive language and shouting.

In response, the ruling party initiated a number of disciplinary measures and responded.

It can be seen as the first case of a large number of disciplinary measures.

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Last month, members of the People's Power submitted a disciplinary proposal against Democratic Party member Shin Hyun-young.

If you look at the table above, you can see that a lot of disciplinary measures were issued in the 18th National Assembly.

It was a time that overlapped with the Lee Myung-bak administration, and it was a time when there were many cases where politically sensitive bills such as the budget bill and the press law were enforced.

Even in the 20th National Assembly, there were many times when it was proposed en masse.

It overlaps with the late Park Geun-hye and the early and middle Moon Jae-in administration.

In particular, many disciplinary proposals were submitted in February 2019.

In January 2019, when allegations of a conflict of interest by former lawmaker Son Hye-won came out, the Liberty Korea Party at the time proposed a disciplinary plan.

The Democratic Party later confronted with a large number of disciplinary measures against lawmakers Song Eon-seok, Yoon Young-seok, Lee Jang-woo, Lee Hak-jae, and Jang Je-won.

Looking at the speed of the feet, it is not easy even during the 21st National Assembly.

So far, 34 cases have already been proposed.

It overlaps with the point when the conflict reached its peak with the so-called'complete inspection' bill in the latter half of the Moon Jae-in administration.

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In other words, it can be seen that there were a lot of disciplinary proposals in the 18th and 20th, and now in the 21st National Assembly, at the time of the Lee Myung-bak administration, and in the middle and late Moon Jae-in administration.

In the 18th and 21st National Assembly, one party had an overwhelming number of seats.

There was a case where the bill was enforced, and as a reaction, resistance from the opposite party became fierce.

There was a lot of physical fight in the process, and it led to the disciplinary bill to condemn it.

Naturally, on the other side, while responding with retaliation, a lot of disciplinary measures piled up.

Based on the year, we analyzed when most disciplinary proposals were submitted, and also by month.

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You can see that a lot of disciplinary proposals are submitted in the last quarter.

During this period, there is also a government audit, and at the end of the year, there is a budget review.

There are many things to negotiate face-to-face between the ruling and opposition parties.

There is a lot of quarreling, even harsh words and violence.

It was analyzed that there were many times when 'disciplinary measures' were naturally poured out.

Even during the last parliamentary audit period, during President Yoon Seok-yeol's New York tour, there were swear words between the ruling and opposition parties over slang remarks, and so many disciplinary measures were proposed.

'Ethics' not 'politics'?

In fact, the team also analyzed the contents of 34 disciplinary measures issued by the 21st National Assembly.

In relation to individual remarks by lawmakers, cases where disciplinary measures were initiated were separately picked up and organized.

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In most cases, the opposing party demanded disciplinary measures for the current issues in which the ruling and opposition parties were in fierce confrontation, and for the harsh words that came out in the process.

In the end, looking at the history of disciplinary measures for members of the National Assembly after democratization, we were able to confirm the correlation between the disciplinary measures for lawmakers and the political dispute to some extent.

If the political dispute was severe, there was just as much violence and violence, and naturally, there were many proposals for disciplinary measures against the other party.

The fact that there are many submissions of disciplinary proposals during the regular session of the National Assembly, where there are many face-to-face fights, supports this hypothesis.

In this way, the congressman's disciplinary proposal is a mirror of political competition.

It can be seen that the disciplinary system for members of the National Assembly has become a tool for 'political war', not 'member ethics'.

It was a kind of political material to highlight the opponent's ethical flaws.

I wonder if there is an immature political culture that cannot be resolved through discussion and dialogue at the center of the pile of lawmakers' disciplinary bills.

In other words, the disciplinary system for members of the National Assembly has long since lost its effectiveness, and it will also mean that a more active alternative is needed.