People attend a candlelight rally to demand President Park Geun-hye to step down in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 31, 2016. (Xinhua/Lee Sang-ho)
SEOUL, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- South Korean parliament's special committee separately investigating a scandal involving impeached President Park Geun-hye decided Monday to push the extension of its hearings, which most of major witnesses have refrained from attending.
The seventh parliamentary hearing on the presidential scandal was held in the National Assembly, but only three out of 20 witnesses, whom the special committee requested to attend the last hearing, were in attendance.
Rep. Kim Sung Tae, head of the committee, said in the nationally televised hearing that lawmakers will push the extension of the parliamentary investigation, which is originally scheduled to end this week.
The extension requires the agreement between four major political parties, which have over 20 legislators to form a floor negotiation body.
Refraining from the Monday parliamentary hearing were two former presidential secretaries, who had assisted the impeached leader for nearly two decades, the current sports and culture minister and former senior presidential secretary in charge of controlling spy agency, prosecutors and police.
