Members of the ruling Saenuri Party on Thursday filed criminal charges against the National Assembly’s speaker for allegedly abusing his power and continued their boycott of the parliamentary audit for the fourth day, with the legislative impasse over the parliamentary audit showing no signs of abating.

Warning that dissenters would be punished, the ruling party’s leadership pledged to continue their boycott of the parliamentary sessions until Assembly Speaker Rep. Chung Sye-kyun resigns over his decision to pass a contentious motion recommending the dismissal of Agriculture Minister Kim Jae-soo.

However, the party has suffered a major glitch to its boycott as some of its member lawmakers have publicly urged the leadership to stop it. Rep. Kim Young-woo, who is a chairman of the National Defense Committee, convened the audit Thursday in defiance of the leadership.

“The ruling party shouldn’t act the same way opposition parties did in the past by staging protests on the street,” said Rep. Na Kyung-won. “We decided to urge the leadership to do its utmost to break the legislative deadlock.”

The move was joined by other ranking Saenuri lawmakers such as the party’s former leader Rep. Kim Moo-sung and Rep. Yoo Seung-min. They have long clashed with the faction close to President Park Geun-hye who steers the party.

But the party leadership rejected these calls and continued their protest and boycott of the parliamentary audit. The committee meetings chaired by the Saenuri lawmakers failed to be held -- except for the Defense Committee -- while other committees headed by opposition parties performed the audit without the Saenuri Party’s members.

“I need you to respect the party’s guidance established under the consensus of party members,” said the Saenuri Party’s floor leader Chung Jin-suk, who has joined the hunger strike that Saenuri Party leader Rep. Lee Jung-hyun started. “The value of our fight will not be diminished.”

Saenuri lawmakers escalated their attacks on the speaker by filling a criminal charge against him for violating political neutrality. They claimed the speaker broke the law by changing a parliamentary schedule without coordination with the Saenuri Party to hold a plenary session and pass the dismissal motion.

It was the first criminal charge pressed against an incumbent Assembly speaker by lawmakers. Throughout the history of the National Assembly, former Speaker Park Hee-tae was the only one who resigned during his tenure after being involved in a bribery scandal in 2012.

They also accused the speaker of instructing the Assembly secretariat to publish false reports and undermining the reputation of Saenuri lawmakers. In the report, Chung claimed that he had discussed whether to hold the Saturday session, but the Saenuri Party claimed that they were only informed with a one-page document.

Rep. Cho Won-jin, a member of the Saenuri Party’s Supreme Council, raised fresh allegations that the speaker had violated electoral laws when he was elected as a lawmaker in the latest general election. Cho claimed he had obtained reports of such a violation and urged prosecutors to investigate.

The speaker denied the allegation and vowed to seek libel charges against Cho.

“The speaker will consider every option including legal measures. Cho should be held accountable for his remark,” said Assembly spokesman Kim Young-soo during a press meeting.

The tit for tat came after the Saenuri Party proposed a motion pushing for the speaker’s resignation. In the opposition-controlled Assembly, the Saenuri party cannot force the speaker to step down unless either the opposition parties approve the motion or the speaker steps down voluntarily. Currently, the Saenuri Party holds 129 seats, while the opposition bloc secures 165.

As the deadlock continued, some ranking Saenuri Party lawmakers decided to attend audit sessions in defiance of the party leadership, who vowed to punish them for disobeying the party’s instructions.

The Defense Committee opened an audit session at 10 a.m. and it was attended by lawmakers from opposition parties, but other Saenuri lawmakers did not join.

“The chairman’s decision will aggravate the fight between the ruling and opposition parties,” said Rep. Kyung Dae-soo who represents the Saenuri Party at the committee. A day earlier, some ranking members from the Saenuri Party locked Kim in his room to prevent him from hosting the session.

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)