Lee Nak-yeon: "Parliamentary Questions Ended in Dispute Over Minister Chu... Difficult to Gain Public Consent"

Lee Nak-yeon, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 18th and delivering an opening remark. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] Lee Nak-yeon, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, urged the People Power Party, saying, "The government questioning ended with a dispute over Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's son," and requested, "Please refrain from such disputes." He also asked his party members to "refrain from overreacting."

On the morning of the 18th at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly, Lee said, "Unfortunately, the four days of government questioning began and ended with a dispute over Minister Choo's son," adding, "It has become clear that the opposition party's baseless allegations and exaggerated political attacks during this government questioning can no longer gain public approval." He continued, "I repeatedly ask for restraint regarding the dispute over Minister Choo's son," and "At the same time, we have a task. It is right to clearly establish the facts and refrain from overreacting."

Regarding tasks at the party level, Lee said, "Tomorrow is the first Youth Day since it was established as a legal commemorative day. Our politics has been insensitive to youth issues until now," adding, "We will communicate more smoothly with the youth and respond more promptly to youth issues. We are preparing a full-scale organization to help with such work."

He continued, "According to the 2020 Annual Report on Balanced Personnel in the Public Sector, the number of female senior officials in local governments increased by 20% compared to last year, but there are ministries with no senior female officials at all," pointing out, "For awareness, I will name them: the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Fair Trade Commission, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, the Korea Communications Commission, the Public Procurement Service, the Statistics Korea, the Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency, and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety?eight ministries have no female officials." He added, "There may be methods to prioritize hiring women for open positions in the ministries I mentioned with low proportions of female senior officials," and requested, "Please work together to accelerate achieving the target ratio of female executives."

Regarding the issue of overwork deaths among delivery workers, he said, "This year alone, seven delivery workers have died due to increased workload and overwork," urging, "Please discuss the introduction of standard contracts and the expansion of social insurance enrollment in the relevant standing committees, and I hope the party will also take full measures." Concerning the fire incident involving elementary school siblings in Incheon, he said, "It is truly heartbreaking that during non-face-to-face classes due to COVID-19, a fire broke out as they tried to prepare their own meals, resulting in severe burns and ongoing treatment," and added, "I hope we can work together to strengthen the emergency care system."

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