From Sudden Issues to In-House Responses... Kim Jong-in Filling the 'Joo Ho-young Gap'

As Soon as the Floor Leader Vacancy Occurred, North Korea Provoked
Handling a Tight Schedule with 'One Person, Multiple Roles'

Kim Jong-in, Emergency Committee Chairman of the United Future Party, and Joo Ho-young, Floor Leader, are attending the Emergency Committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the 15th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hye-min] Kim Jong-in, Emergency Committee Chairman of the United Future Party, is busy filling the 'floor leader' vacancy while working on party innovation. He is consistently delivering official party-level messages, from the ruling party's unilateral organization of the National Assembly to North Korea's provocations, while increasing communication with party lawmakers, effectively compensating for the absence of Floor Leader Joo Ho-young.

Since Floor Leader Joo resigned on the 15th, taking responsibility for the ruling party's unilateral organization of the National Assembly, Chairman Kim has maintained a tight schedule throughout the week. He faced unexpected issues such as the floor leader vacancy and North Korea's provocations.

On the morning of the 16th, the day after Joo's resignation, Kim held an unscheduled emergency committee meeting to discuss the party's response to the absence of a floor leader. At the meeting, he sharply criticized the Democratic Party, saying, "They opened the National Assembly unilaterally, completely ignoring the opposition's intentions, and elected the standing committee chairs in a rather strange way."

He then met with senior lawmakers with three or more terms to discuss current National Assembly issues. Upon hearing the news of North Korea's explosion of the inter-Korean joint liaison office, he immediately activated the party's Special Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security to issue a message. Following the original plan, he also consecutively activated party innovation bodies such as the Special Committee on Economic Innovation and the Special Committee on Party Platform and Policy Revision, delivering messages about the party's innovation direction.

On the 19th, he met with first-term lawmakers to discuss Floor Leader Joo's return and the party's floor response strategy. At this meeting, Chairman Kim said, "After the weekend, when Floor Leader Joo returns, we will be able to decide how to participate in the organization of the National Assembly. If we have a new perspective, it is not a problem that is difficult to solve. It may be frustrating, but please have more patience."

Until Floor Leader Joo returns, Chairman Kim is expected to increase contact with party members to minimize the vacancy. The party expects Floor Leader Joo to return to the National Assembly sometime next week. A party official said, "The absence of party leadership often leads to criticism due to the lack of official messages, but Chairman Kim is effectively acting as the messenger."

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