“The most untrustworthy people in the world are the professors먹튀검증, the most untrustworthy group.”
November 11, 2020 Economic Finance Subcommittee of the National Assembly Planning and Finance Committee. At a meeting to discuss easing the standards for preliminary feasibility (preliminary) investigations, Rep. Kim Tae-heum (currently the governor of South Chungcheong Province), the power of the people, said this, emphasizing that the preliminary feasibility studies conducted by professors are closed. In response, the lawmakers who were present hurriedly said, “It will remain in the stenographic record” and “Professors are coming after me.” Then, Rep. Kim said, “Don’t come because there are no (professors). It is good to leave a record.” However, Rep. Kim’s remarks in the National Assembly’s stenographic records were replaced by the existing 30-character remarks, “I am a professor… ” It was modified to 6 characters.
On the 18th, the Dong-A Ilbo confirmed the ’21st National Assembly’s stenographic records revision details’ through a request for information disclosure by the National Assembly Secretariat, and as a result, it was found that a total of 100 amendments were made to the minutes of the 21st National Assembly during the three years. This is a significant increase from 71 cases in the 4 years of the 20th National Assembly. According to the National Assembly Act, members of the National Assembly can revise their remarks (correction of wording) with the permission of the Speaker or the Standing Committee Chairperson.
The problem is that the phrasal correction is used for the purpose of ‘hiding the last word’. According to the rules of the minutes of the National Assembly meeting, amendments to wording can be made only in cases where there is an error in the record: △incorrectly uttering legal provisions or numbers △changing specific words to similar words △simple changes in front and rear phrases △recording errors.
However, in practice, modifications are often not included here. On September 28, 2021, at the subcommittee of the National Assembly’s Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, Marine and Fisheries Committee, Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Jae-gap emphasized that the government should also support the operation cost of the Jindo National Maritime Safety Center built after the Sewol ferry disaster, saying, “If Jindo seafood is expressed as it is, it is ‘○○ water. He said, “It’s the seaweed I ate.” However, through a request for correction, the statement was changed to “Because the accident area caused the perception of Jindo seafood to deteriorate.”
There is also a case where he made a comment about a fellow lawmaker and corrected it. On October 21, 2021, Rep. Lim Oh-gyeong of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee mentioned Rep. Jeong Cheong-rae of the same party and said, “You harassed your friends a lot,” but in the shorthand record, it was corrected to “You quarreled a lot with your friends.” In addition, in the 21st National Assembly, there was a case where “Leave an argument” was changed to “booing”, “a scam” to “doesn’t make sense”, and “Yeosun Rebellion” to “Yeosu/Suncheon 10/19 Incident”.
In response to criticism that lawmakers are amending the stenographic record of the National Assembly, which is a record of history, at will, in June 2021, a bill to strictly limit the revision of the National Assembly stenographic record (Amendment to the National Assembly Act) was proposed. However, the bill has not been discussed for nearly two years.