Jo Kyung-tae: "Park Byeong-seok lacks qualifications as Speaker... Can't even utter a word to North Korea"

Opposition Party Protests Forced Assignment to Standing Committees by United Party
"A Weak National Assembly Speaker Who Is Wary of the Democratic Party"

Cho Kyung-tae, Supreme Member of the United Future Party. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Yeon-ju] Cho Kyung-tae, the Supreme Council member of the United Future Party, strongly criticized Park Byeong-seok, the Speaker of the National Assembly, who forcibly assigned the United Future Party to standing committees on the 15th, saying he "does not even qualify to be the Speaker."

On the 16th, Cho appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said, "Compared to other Speakers, Park Byeong-seok seems to be quite cautious of the ruling party. In other words, I think he is a rather weak Speaker who is mindful of the Democratic Party of Korea," expressing his opinion.

Earlier on the 15th, Speaker Park Byeong-seok pushed through the election of six standing committee chairs, including the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which was a key issue in the negotiation of the National Assembly's organization between the ruling and opposition parties. In response, the United Future Party boycotted the plenary session but failed to block the election. Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the United Future Party, and Lee Jong-bae, the policy committee chairman, announced their intention to resign, taking responsibility for losing control of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

Speaker of the National Assembly Park Byeong-seok. Photo by Yonhap News

Regarding this, Cho said, "Even if it took some time, someone in the position of the Speaker should have called both ruling and opposition parties, especially the ruling party with the majority seats, to scold and reprimand them to negotiate properly. As a six-term lawmaker who has observed parliamentary customs, I wonder what he is so afraid of to carry out the organization like lightning," pointing out, "Opposition lawmakers are very angry."

He added, "He cannot say a word about North Korea, but just because the ruling party has a slight numerical advantage, they forcibly pushed this through. It looks quite pitiful," and requested, "I hope he shows such determination in inter-Korean relations."

Regarding the negotiation for the remaining 12 standing committees, Cho said, "If the Democratic Party wants to do whatever they want, what meaning does the negotiation have?" and emphasized, "If that is the case, the Speaker should have called the ruling party to scold or reprimand them to lead the negotiation from the start."

He continued, "Someone with more conviction and qualification to properly lead the National Assembly should be the Speaker," adding, "It is quite heavy on my heart that the level of our National Assembly is only this much."

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