The National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee held a plenary meeting on Sept. 8 and, led by the ruling party, passed a resolution urging People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-sook (이진숙) to refrain from speaking and voting on agenda items involving herself. People Power Party members, including Lee, protested the item being tabled and all walked out just before the vote.

Han Jun-ho (한준호), a Democratic Party lawmaker and the ruling party's floor leader on the committee, requested that the item be added to the agenda. He said Lee had been the head of an agency subject to the committee's oversight when she served as chair of the Korea Communications Commission, and that she was also a party to both filing a complaint and voting to do so over alleged false testimony related to a parliamentary audit.

Han said Lee had claimed she received a response from the Ethics Review Committee saying there was no conflict of interest. He said he checked and found it was the result of a review of items typically registered as general interests, and not a judgment that there was no conflict of interest across the committee's activities as a whole.

He said issues could also be raised over a forum on the May 18 Democratic Uprising that Lee hosted and follow-up measures. He said if the person involved takes part directly to defend herself, question related agencies and even exercise voting rights, there is a high risk that public trust in the fairness and objectivity of the committee's review will be undermined. The item was added to the agenda after a show-of-hands vote, with 12 in favour and 5 against among 18 members present.

Democratic Party lawmakers criticised Lee in unison. Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yeon-hee (이연희) said there is an old saying in U.S. politics: "Don't fight a skunk over who smells worse." She said a skunk has entered the hall of the people's representatives, where the future of South Korea's science and technology should be discussed, and is making the National Assembly reek.

She said there is politics that throws out provocative claims rather than rational debate, shakes social consensus to create conflict, and when people get angry, uses that anger again as political fuel. She raised her voice, saying that is the politics of constitutional destruction and denial of history that Lee is showing now.

The opposition immediately protested. Choi Hyung-doo (최형두), a People Power Party lawmaker and the opposition floor leader on the committee, said he opposed the change to the agenda and demanded that an unreasonable frame against Lee be halted.

Choi said the Democratic Party had denounced KCC Chair Lee Jin-sook for the past 2 years and even impeached her, but the Constitutional Court dismissed it. He said she could not properly carry out her work at the time. He said, "Haven't you seen the Constitutional Court's written reasons for dismissing the impeachment? Does everything work if the Democratic Party pushes it through?"

Lee said Democratic Party lawmakers were raising issues about her qualifications as if they were committing group violence. She criticised them, saying she had strong regrets that they were spreading a skunk-like stench in democracy, just as the Democratic Party-led National Assembly passed measures such as the crime of distorting laws, a petition system to reopen trials, and an expansion of the number of Supreme Court justices through the tyranny of the majority.

The item was later passed, led by the ruling party, with People Power Party members absent after walking out. Committee Chairman Song Gi-heon (송기헌) declared a recess.