Sim Sang-jung, "Ruling Party Awarded Gold Badge to Malicious Business Owners" Targeting the Eastar Incident

Eastar Crisis "Waiting for Responsible Solutions from Jeong Seyeon and Lee Nakyeon"
To the Two Major Parties: "Political Reform Has Disappeared... 'Satellite Party Aftereffects'"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] On the afternoon of the 15th, Sim Sang-jung, leader of the Justice Party, criticized the ruling party in a speech by representatives of non-negotiating groups held at the National Assembly plenary session regarding the controversy over ‘Eastar Jet’ related to Lee Sang-jik, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, saying, “Is it acceptable for the ruling party that gave a gold badge to a ruthless business owner to act so indifferent?”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In her speech that day, Sim said, “A 16-year-old golf player suspected of illegal gift-giving became the major shareholder of an airline, a key industry, but does the government really have no responsibility?”

She added, “Last week, 605 Eastar Jet workers received notices of mass layoffs. However, there is not even a trace of effort from the company, government, or ruling party to prevent the mass layoffs,” and said, “I will wait for responsible solutions from Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and Representative Lee Nak-yon.”

Sim also criticized the ‘20,000 won nationwide communication fee payment,’ saying, “Telecommunication companies should use more than half of their profits for communication fee reductions,” and pointed out, “What the government really needs to do for telecommunication companies enjoying a special demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic in this era of disaster is to demand their participation in sharing the pain.”

She also pointed out the government’s inadequate response to the climate crisis. Sim said, “Recently, language about the climate crisis has been overflowing in our National Assembly, which is an encouraging change,” but added, “Unfortunately, the Green New Deal included in the Korean New Deal announced by the government is very insufficient.” She emphasized, “Innovations such as an era of 10 million electric vehicles by 2030 and replacing 40% of electricity generation with solar and wind power within 10 years are necessary.”

She then urged the political circles to join the Justice Party’s main legislative tasks. In her speech that day, Sim listed four solutions for the 21st National Assembly: ▲ Anti-discrimination Act ▲ Punishment Act for Serious Accidents in Companies ▲ Resolution of Basic Housing Rights ▲ Resolution of #MeToo in the National Assembly.

Finally, regarding political reform, which was a major topic in the 20th National Assembly, Sim criticized, “The ‘political reform,’ a staple menu of influential politicians, has disappeared.” She called it the ‘aftereffects of satellite parties’ and said, “The coalition of the conservative opposition party that refused reform and the ruling party that destroyed reform is a consequence that regresses democracy and embarrasses everyone. Nevertheless, I have yet to see a reflection letter from the two major parties.”

She said, “The reason the Justice Party devoted itself to electoral system reform was not desperation but because politics of diversity was an urgent demand of the times,” and stated, “However, the golden opportunity for candlelight reform was overturned by the two major parties’ logic of protecting their own interests.”

She added, “The people gave the Democratic Party 180 seats, but that does not exempt them from failure in political reform,” and “I demand the Democratic Party to take responsibility.”

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