Joo Ho-young "Outdoor protests are not easy due to heavy rain and COVID-19... Considering SNS and regional tours"

Regarding housing price gains, "The Democratic Party administration raised house prices"

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, is going up to the podium to give an opening speech at an emergency party meeting held at the National Assembly on the 30th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] As voices within the United Future Party calling for street protests against the ruling party grow louder, Floor Leader Joo Ho-young stated, "We will not easily engage in street protests" and pledged to do his best within the National Assembly. However, he admitted that social network services (SNS) and regional tours are under consideration.

On the morning of the 31st, Floor Leader Joo appeared on KBS Radio's 'Kim Kyung-rae's Strongest Current Affairs' and said, "The entire country is suffering from heavy rain damage, there is social distancing due to COVID-19, and it is the summer vacation season, so street protests would require enormous costs."

He explained, "The Democratic Party is acting shamelessly, and if we push through in the National Assembly, there is no other way, but considering the purpose for which the people elected us and the principle of parliamentary democracy, doing our best in the National Assembly is the most fundamental approach," adding, "Some members suggest that we should conduct both inside and outside protests simultaneously."

Floor Leader Joo said, "Resistance from the people is beginning, with actions like 'Is this country yours?' or even shoe throwing," and explained, "We are considering such methods (street protests), but rather than gathering many people in a plaza for one-sided speeches as before, we are contemplating methods like SNS or nationwide regional tours."

Criticism has also arisen that the opposition's response is lukewarm, citing the lack of measures such as agenda coordination meetings and filibusters. Regarding this, he explained, "If an agenda coordination meeting is passed, it is originally supposed to last for 90 days, but currently, the Democratic Party's standing committee chairpersons arbitrarily select the six members of the agenda coordination meeting?three from the ruling party and three from the opposition. If they include someone who supports them among the three opposition members, it becomes four members, and with two-thirds majority, the agenda coordination meeting decision is made in just one day."

Regarding filibusters, he also stated, "Filibusters are stopped in one day if there are more than 180 members present," explaining why they cannot always invoke and abuse filibusters.

In response to criticism that Floor Leader Joo profited over 2 billion KRW from housing price gains, he retorted, "That house cannot be sold for several years to come, and the price increase happened within 1-2 years due to the Democratic Party administration's mistakes," adding, "Joo Jin-hyung, the Supreme Council member of the Open Democratic Party, also said, 'Why are you shifting responsibility for something that happened six years ago?' They are blaming me for the skyrocketing real estate prices during their own administration."

The United Future Party has remained silent regarding the Democratic Party's request to recommend members for the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO). On this, Floor Leader Joo said, "As time passes, President Moon Jae-in, who led the CIO, and the Democratic Party's CIO collaborators will face great judgment in the history of our country's judicial society," and criticized, "They say the CIO is necessary to suppress the prosecution, but looking at the various bills the Democratic Party is pushing now, does the prosecution really have any power to wield?"

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