Opposition parties on Tuesday blasted the government over the recent allegation that a former top presidential aide and incumbent ruling party lawmaker had attempted to censor news broadcasting on the Sewol ferry sinking two years ago.

During the National Assembly’s first interpellation session, the ruling camp had focused on political agendas stacked against the opposition, such as the ongoing police probe into a group of liberal civic groups for suspected violation of the election law.

“Rep. Lee (Jung-hyun) clearly violated the broadcasting act,” said Rep. Park Beom-kye of The Minjoo Party of Korea.

The regular two-day session, during which lawmakers question government officials over state affairs, ran from Monday to Tuesday this week, with the first day on economic issues and the second on noneconomic ones.

Rep. Lee, a third-termer and former senior presidential secretary for public affairs, is accused of attempting to interfere with Sewol ferry sinking reports that had been critical of the now-defunct Korea Coast Guard’s rescue attempts. The allegation was triggered by a phone conversation between Lee and then-director of public broadcaster KBS Kim Shi-gon, which the Union of Media Workers made public last week upon Kim’s consent.

“The transcript shows that Kim, though he lashed back and resisted at first, ended up succumbing to Rep. Lee’s demands,” Rep. Park said, asserting that Lee’s pressure infringed on the freedom of broadcasting.

Rep. Lee Yong-ju of the runner-up opposition People’s Party joined in, slamming Cheong Wa Dae for rationalizing Lee’s action.

“Not only does this (issue) require an immediate prosecutorial probe, but also President Park Geun-hye herself should make apologies to the media and to the families of the Sewol ferry victims,” Lee said.

He then criticized presidential Chief of Staff Lee Won-jong for his remarks last week. Lee Won-jong had asserted that Lee Jung-hyun’s call was within his scope of duty as the Blue House’s media chief.

The Saenuri Party, on the other hand, targeted Chongseon.net, a cluster of liberal civic groups which came under fire for holding anti-campaigns against specific candidates ahead of this year’s April 13 general election.

The National Election Commission earlier filed a report to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, accusing the network of conducting illegitimate public polls without making due reports to the watchdog, thus constituting a violation of the Public Official Election Act.

“There should be a reinforced level of supervision on the fund-raising and management process of civic groups, lest they turn politically lopsided during election seasons,” said Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun.

Rep. Lee Che-ik added that among the 35 subjects of the anti-campaigns, 33 were Saenuri candidates or conservative-leaning independent runners.

Meanwhile, the questioning session was halted in the morning due to scuffles between the rivaling parties.

Rep. Kim Dong-cheol of the People’s Party stopped in the middle of his session, enraged over the Saenuri lawmakers’ interruption to his questions to Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn.

Rep. Kim was arguing that despite President Park’s inauguration pledge to be fair over personnel affairs, most of the ministerial level officials were from the nation’s conservative stronghold Yeongnam region. He also blasted the president for lacking a proper apology over her “failure in state affairs.”

Tension surged as the prime minister countered the accusations and several Saenuri lawmakers supported Hwang, leading to Kim raising his voice and denouncing the ruling party members as “subordinates to the prime minister.”

The tension soon developed into a verbal brawl between Kim and Saenuri’s Rep. Lee Jang-woo, who slammed Kim’s remarks as crossing the line.

As the confrontation surged, vice parliamentary Speaker Park Joo-sun announced an adjournment.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)