Democratic Party: "Just tell us where Joo Ho-young is... We will go find him and talk"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] On the 19th, when Speaker of the National Assembly Park Byeong-seok postponed the plenary session that was scheduled to finalize the election of standing committee chairs, the Democratic Party of Korea held a press briefing urging the opposition party to return to negotiations. In particular, they expressed a strong willingness to negotiate, stating that they might directly visit Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the Future United Party who resigned from his position and is currently in seclusion, to engage in dialogue.

Kim Young-jin, the senior deputy floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, held a briefing immediately after the decision to postpone the plenary session and said, "The Democratic Party has conceded as much as it could and waited as long as it could. We urge the opposition party to make a decision."

He added, "To find urgent solutions to inter-Korean issues, related standing committees such as the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, National Defense Committee, Intelligence Committee, and Public Administration and Security Committee must operate normally," and "We earnestly ask the Future United Party to participate so that the National Assembly can protect the lives and security of the people."

He continued, "Our position is to complete the third supplementary budget at least by the 3rd of next month," expressing concern that "if it is not passed by then, the city and provincial councils will have to pass the supplementary budget again, which means actual execution will be delayed until the end of August or September, and during this two-month gap, our people's livelihoods could be suffocated."

Regarding the seclusion of Floor Leader Joo, the negotiation representative of the Future United Party, he said, "If we know where he is, we will visit and talk," and "We will consider various factors and make efforts to visit or contact him."

Senior Deputy Floor Leader Kim reaffirmed the Democratic Party's refusal to re-elect the chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee or negotiate individual standing committees as demanded by the Future United Party. He said, "There is a 'preliminary agreement' that the Democratic Party has conceded as much as possible," and "I think minor adjustments are an outdated approach. Breaking the preliminary agreement could lead to a greater state of anomie."

He emphasized, "Even when the Democratic Party was in the opposition, despite various circumstances such as the mad cow disease incident or the so-called 'MB evil law' called the Broadcasting Act, we boldly participated and processed supplementary budgets when necessary," and "We ask the Future United Party to consider the people's livelihoods even while fighting."

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