Joo Ho-young: "If the government and ruling party had respect for the people, such gaffes would not occur"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Lee Ji-eun and Lim Chun-han] Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, sharply criticized the recent verbal missteps by government and ruling party officials, saying, "If they had respect for the people, such remarks would not come out."

After a party caucus meeting at the National Assembly on the morning of the 6th, Joo told reporters, "If government and ruling party officials feared and respected the people, I believe harsh or offensive language would not be used. In that regard, their behavior is truly unbecoming and regrettable."

This was a reference to incidents such as Minister of Gender Equality and Family Lee Jung-ok's remark during a parliamentary audit that "by-elections are an opportunity for gender sensitivity education," which sparked backlash from the victim of sexual harassment by the late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, and Democratic Party lawmaker Park Beom-gye's controversial comment to a Supreme Court justice, "If you need a budget, try asking to be saved."

Also that morning, a phone call was recorded in which Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the Democratic Party, was heard using the derogatory term "XXXdeul" (a vulgar insult) toward individuals presumed to be Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport officials, saying, "Tell the second vice minister of the Ministry of Land to come in quickly." When asked for his thoughts on this, Joo refrained from commenting, saying, "I do not know the exact context or details of the remarks, so it is not appropriate to comment at this time."

Regarding the future direction of opposition party struggles, he said, "We have set a principle to thoroughly inform the public, based on facts and logic, about the falsehoods of policies that the Democratic Party or government are pushing excessively and the harm they cause to the people," adding, "Specific responses will be determined case by case depending on the bills or issues."

On the ruling expected later that day for Kim Kyung-soo, Governor of Gyeongnam Province, he expressed concern, saying, "There are many worries about recent court ruling trends," and warned, "This case will be a litmus test for whether the judiciary is conducting independent trials, judged by the public."

Regarding Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, stating at a morning meeting that he would "do anything for regime change," Joo said, "I do not know the specifics, so I cannot say for sure," but added, "He has repeatedly expressed the view that the Moon Jae-in administration is failing and must be stopped, so this remark likely came from that perspective."

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