Jo Hae-jin: "The Government and Ruling Party Have No Right to Govern If They Only Blame Past Regimes, Opposition, or Specific Forces"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Jo Hae-jin, a member of the Future United Party, urged the ruling party to adopt a reflective attitude, saying, "The government and ruling party have no qualifications as the ruling power if they only blame past administrations, opposition parties, or specific groups."

On the 26th, Jo appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and said, "The government's attitude is not focused on quarantine efforts but on finding scapegoats and stigmatizing."

He said, "The government and ruling party are the forces responsible for state affairs, including quarantine," adding, "They must know how to reflect on their mistakes and correct them, but the ruling power that never reflects and always blames past administrations, opposition parties, or specific groups has no qualifications as the ruling power."

Jo pointed out that the government's blaming is due to managing approval ratings. He said, "They see it as a witch hunt and involving the major opposition party as beneficial," adding, "They think their approval ratings rise and the opposition's ratings fall, easing the reversal of approval ratings, so they continue this behavior."

Jo argued that while the Gwanghwamun rally could have influenced 20-30% of confirmed cases, not all cases are due to churches or rallies. He said, "On July 21, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun designated August 17 as a temporary holiday, and on the next day, the 22nd, church small gatherings were allowed. On July 30, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economy talked about issuing coupons, and on August 9, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced a special travel week to relieve COVID-19 depression," adding, "After the Ministry of Health and Welfare set the special travel week, confirmed cases started to surge from August 13. The confirmed cases from August 13 to 20 occurred due to that situation."

In response, Kim Jong-min, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said, "That is completely untrue," adding, "The increase in confirmed cases on August 13 before August 15 was from the Yongin Church, and before that, the number of confirmed cases was in the tens." Kim also said that the government's earlier relaxation of quarantine guidelines was due to 'trust.' He said, "The most basic reason for the government to relax quarantine guidelines is not only the trend of cases but also the judgment of our citizens' cooperation," adding, "It was not that the walls of our citizens collapsed because the opposition or government said, 'Let's play, let's take it easy,' but that a single brick, the Sarang Jeil Church, collapsed."

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