People Power Party Floor Leader Song Eon-seok speaks at a general meeting of lawmakers held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 24th. Yonhap News

People Power Party Floor Leader Song Eon-seok urged the Democratic Party of Korea on the 24th to "state its final position on the parliamentary audit by today" regarding the Daejang-dong case and the abandonment of appeals.

In his opening remarks at the party's general meeting of lawmakers held at the National Assembly that day, Song said, "The leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea does not seem to have much willingness to conduct a parliamentary audit. We cannot wait forever."

He stated, "I want to make it clear that the future parliamentary schedule will depend entirely on the attitude taken by the Democratic Party of Korea," and emphasized, "Considering various circumstances, we may have to resort to extraordinary measures."

This is interpreted as a suggestion that they could launch a filibuster (legally obstructing parliamentary proceedings through unlimited debate) on all of the approximately 50 public welfare bills scheduled for the plenary session on the 27th.

Choi Soo-jin, the party's chief spokesperson, told reporters after the general meeting that "the opinion has been formed that we should engage in strong resistance, as the Democratic Party is expected to push hard in December," adding, "The opinion to filibuster all public welfare bills was the dominant one."

Regarding the inter-party negotiations for the parliamentary audit, Choi said, "There will be a meeting of floor leaders this afternoon," and "I expect a final decision to be made this afternoon."

On the vote on the arrest warrant motion for former Floor Leader Choo Kyung-ho, he explained, "We have decided to reject it," and "We have not yet decided whether to proceed with a vote. This is usually decided through consultations the day before."

He added, "It was decided at the general meeting to delegate all matters to the floor leader's office."

Yonhap News