Joo Ho-young: "The Democratic Party's Behavior is 'One-Party Dictatorship'... I Ask the People to Unite Their Strength"

"There Will Never Be Cooperation in the Plenary Session"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, criticized the Democratic Party of Korea on the 15th regarding the National Assembly organization, saying, "The Democratic Party is trying to wide open the door to 'parliamentary dictatorship' and 'one-party dictatorship,'" and added, "The Democratic Party's behavior of justifying the dominance of power as justice is precisely one-party dictatorship."

Floor leader Joo held a press conference at the National Assembly communication office immediately after a meeting of floor leaders presided over by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok, saying, "Only the people can stop the arrogance and dogmatism of the ruling party," and urged, "Please unite your strength."

He pointed out, "The negotiation for the organization of the 21st National Assembly was not a negotiation but a threat from the beginning. The Democratic Party has brutally trampled on the tradition of cooperation that has been passed down since the Constituent National Assembly," and added, "It is the first time since the establishment of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea in 1948 that the ruling party unilaterally opens a plenary session and elects the chairperson and standing committee chairs while negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties are ongoing."

He continued, "The United Future Party has never made unreasonable demands. We demanded that the standing committee chairs be divided 11 to 7 according to the seat ratio, and that the chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, by convention, should be held by the first opposition party, not the Speaker," and criticized, "Among the 18 standing committees, the Democratic Party wants to take all 18, while the United Future Party is asking for minimal checks and balances. Who is really being greedy?"

Floor leader Joo stated, "The Democratic Party holds a majority in all standing committees and can process agendas unilaterally. In such a situation, if they also take all the standing committee chairs, what use is the composition of the standing committees, and what use is the National Assembly?"

He added, "The president's term is now less than two years. We wanted to help through cooperation for the country's future, but I think we have to give up on that feeling now," and declared, "The United Future Party will no longer yield to the ruling party's coercive National Assembly operations. We will not engage in any negotiations lacking mutual respect. I am confident that this is the only way to protect the trampled parliamentary democracy and the dignity of our people."

After the press conference, Floor leader Joo told reporters regarding whether they would boycott the plenary session, "We cannot cooperate when they act unilaterally like that," and said, "We will decide what to do at the party meeting, but there will never be cooperation with the plenary session."

When asked if they were considering street protests, he replied, "Yes," and said, "We cannot agree or cooperate with the Democratic Party's unilateral National Assembly operation, but we will not abandon our duties as lawmakers and will perform the government's oversight and criticism functions."

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