Rival political parties clashed on Monday over the prosecution's closed-door questioning of First Lady Kim Keon-hee over various allegations and the opposition-led hearing on a public petition calling for a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Main opposition Democratic Party(DP) acting chief and floor leader Park Chan-dae slammed the prosecution for questioning Kim at an undisclosed location over the weekend, calling it a fake summons and an attempt to absolve the first lady of responsibility.

Park also criticized the prosecution for using "security concerns" as an excuse for its lack of transparency. He accused the state agency of arrogance and suspected it realized the urgency of the situation after it belatedly informed the prosecutor general of the questioning.

Ruling People Power Party(PPP) policy chief Jeong Jeom-sig, on the other hand, argued that the closed-door questioning was a proper measure as a sitting first lady is a legal subject of state security.

As for criticism that the questioning was not reported to the top prosecutor in advance, Jeong blamed the previous Moon Jae-in administration for stripping the prosecutor general's command over investigations, barring the prosecutor handling the case from reporting such actions in advance.

While the DP took aim at presidential and government officials who appeared at last week's impeachment petition hearing for being insincere, the PPP urged the opposition to halt the "unconstitutional and illegal" hearing, saying that it will only serve to aggravate public discord and confusion.