"Support Lawmakers Properly" Opposition Staff Reacts to Yoon Ho-jung... Calls for Apology

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] The secretaries of the People Power Party have publicly demanded an apology after Yoon Hojung, chairman of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, made remarks suggesting the introduction of a "secretary qualification exam" directed at opposition party secretaries amid the confrontation over Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol's appearance before the National Assembly.

On the 27th, according to the People Power Party Secretaries Council, they issued a statement saying, "It is outrageous that he suddenly disparages secretaries' qualifications in his own battlefield," and "We strongly urge a sincere apology to the approximately 3,000 secretaries from both ruling and opposition parties." They added, "He insulted and belittled all National Assembly secretaries who work without weekends and overtime in the blind spots of labor law," and "If an appropriate apology is not made promptly, we will consider legal action regarding today's incident, which seriously damages the honor of all secretaries."

Chairman Yoon clashed with People Power Party members of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, including Representative Kim Do-eup, over Prosecutor General Yoon's attendance at the committee the previous day. Later, at a press conference, Chairman Yoon criticized, saying, "I want to tell the staff assisting Representative Kim, the opposition party's secretary of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, to properly support him," and "In the U.S. Congress, there is a legislative secretary qualification exam system; shouldn't we introduce something like that in our country as well?"

When Representative Kim demanded an apology during the full committee meeting, Chairman Yoon refused, saying, "There is no need to apologize. It was a comment made as a senior secretary." Chairman Yoon is a former secretary to former Democratic Party lawmaker Han Kwang-ok.

In response, the People Power Party Secretaries Council criticized, saying, "There is common sense and etiquette in politics, and there are limits to what can be said," and "Chairman Yoon has no right to evaluate and disparage secretaries from other lawmakers' offices in a public setting."

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