Joo Hoeyoung: "Ruling Party's Runaway Train as Poorly Managed as Sewol Ferry... Headed for Disaster"

"Budget Deliberations After Forced Committee Assignments Are Illegal and Unlawful"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy, Reporter Lim Chunhan] On July 1, Joo Hoeyoung, floor leader of the United Future Party, criticized the Democratic Party of Korea for unilaterally forming the National Assembly's standing committees and accelerating the passage of the supplementary budget bill, stating, "The National Assembly has become the 'runaway train with no brakes' that Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae spoke of," and added, "This runaway train is as poorly managed as the Sewol ferry."

On Facebook that day, in a post titled "The runaway train departs with its doors open, reminding me of the Sewol ferry," Floor Leader Joo wrote, "The National Assembly's standing committees and their members, who are supposed to deliberate on laws and the budget, have not been fully established. The chairperson of the Intelligence Committee has not been elected, and not a single member of the Intelligence Committee has been appointed." He continued, "They departed without even checking if all the passengers were on board or if the crew was in place."

He further stated, "The Speaker of the National Assembly arbitrarily assigned lawmakers to standing committees," and pointed out, "Budget deliberations by standing committees that have not been properly assigned members according to the National Assembly Act are both illegal and a breach of the law."

He continued, "'Why worry so much about the rules? Let's just depart, and if something goes wrong, we'll deal with it then'-this must have been the mindset of the Sewol ferry crew," adding, "There is only one thing the Chinese Communist Party can never resolve: the rampant corruption within the Party and government. Unchecked power, absolute power, inevitably leads to absolute corruption."

Floor Leader Joo also said, "The ruling party's leader threatened us, saying, 'We will revise the law immediately to launch the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) as soon as possible,'" and added, "The law establishing the CIO, which the ruling bloc pushed through using the illegal and unlawful fast-track process, is full of loopholes. To hold a confirmation hearing for the CIO chief, the law on confirmation hearings must first be amended."

He emphasized, "Of the seven members of the CIO chief recommendation committee, our party nominates two, and unless both agree, the CIO chief cannot be appointed," and criticized, "Lee Haechan, leader of the Democratic Party, wants to immediately revise the CIO law to strip the opposition of its veto power."

Floor Leader Joo argued, "Those who claim to have learned democracy, those who pride themselves on being part of the democratization movement, have now fallen into parliamentary dictatorship," and added, "They are intoxicated with the arrogance that a parliamentary majority allows them to do anything. No one can stop them. The people are not even a consideration."

He concluded, "The 21st National Assembly, which departed with its doors open, will only stop its runaway course after it falls into a quagmire," and added, "The Sewol ferry sank in Maenggol Strait, sacrificing countless innocent lives, without ever completing its voyage."

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