Kim Jaewon "Asked Kim to 'Watch closely as I will create favorable conditions'"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] As former Chief Election Committee Chairman Kim Jong-in has not accepted the '4-month term' interim committee chairman position of the United Future Party, Kim Jae-won, the Policy Committee Chairman, visited Kim on the evening of the 28th and reportedly asked him to "wait as we will improve the conditions."

In an interview with TBS's "Kim Eo-jun's News Factory" on the morning of the 29th, Kim Jae-won said, "Since we have passed the resolution at the National Committee, we will make further efforts going forward, so please wait and see. That was the purpose of my visit."

The United Future Party held a national committee meeting the previous day and approved the transition to the "Kim Jong-in interim committee" system. However, since the standing national committee was canceled, the existing party rules that scheduled a party convention by the end of August could not be changed, limiting the interim committee chairman's term to four months. For Kim Jong-in, who intended to create an environment to conduct the presidential election, a 4-month interim committee chairman position is a difficult proposal to accept.

On the previous evening, Acting Party Leader Shim Jae-cheol and Policy Committee Chairman Kim visited Kim Jong-in's residence but reportedly did not receive either acceptance or refusal. Regarding this, Kim Jae-won said, "Kim Jong-in had long advocated for party reform and innovation, and publicly stated that 'it would be difficult to gain momentum by serving only about four months, so I will not take such a position.' We accepted that, so we saw no possibility of him taking the interim committee chairman position under those circumstances, and we did not even bring up the idea of asking him to serve for four months."

However, he left the possibility open for the future. Kim Jae-won explained, "Since the National Committee has already approved it, but it is not a situation to appoint him immediately, we asked him to wait a little until we create conditions where the interim committee chairman can work for party innovation. We did not say 'If you have no intention, don't even bring it up.' Instead, we said, 'We will make further efforts, so please watch over us,' and we left after exchanging good wishes."

Kim Jae-won said, "To try to improve the conditions, we will hold the Supreme Council meeting today to gather opinions on how to overcome this crisis and, if possible, take measures again. That is the conclusion," adding, "We need to hold the Supreme Council meeting today to unite our will." The United Future Party plans to hold a closed Supreme Council meeting in the afternoon to consolidate opinions.

Meanwhile, ahead of the passage of the second supplementary budget bill for disaster relief payments, Kim Jae-won pointed out, "Government debt is already almost out of control, and if we continue issuing government bonds to the extent that the country's credit rating falls, we do not know how far the COVID-19 situation will progress. Therefore, minimizing deficit bond issuance is a very reasonable claim."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.