Hong Ik-pyo: "Opposition, Don't Use Disaster Relief Funds as a Political Tool... Are You Saying Emergency Patients Should Be Treated After the Election?"

Hong Ik-pyo, head of the Inequality Resolution Task Force, is delivering opening remarks at the 1st meeting of the Post-Corona Inequality Resolution Task Force held on the 15th at the National Assembly Members' Office Building. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Hong Ik-pyo, the Policy Committee Chair of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized the People Power Party on the 18th, saying, "Do not use disaster relief funds as a tool for political strife," and questioned, "Is it common sense to tell emergency patients that they will receive treatment after the election?"

At the policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly that morning, Chair Hong said, "Is it common sense to tell someone who is hungry that they will be given food after the election, or to tell emergency patients that they will receive treatment after the election?"

He referred to remarks made by Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People Power Party, stating, "Floor Leader Joo said that pulling out the supplementary budget (추경) card with 50 days left until the election is a cunning trick. We cannot help but ask who is really playing these cunning tricks for the election."

Chair Hong added, "Employment has faced a crisis comparable to the IMF foreign exchange crisis due to COVID-19, and household debt reached 101 percent of GDP at the end of the third quarter last year, surpassing the size of the domestic economy for the first time since the Bank of Korea began compiling statistics in 2007," and said, "If these economic figures do not resonate, I urge Floor Leader Joo and opposition lawmakers to think of our neighbors around us and go out to meet them directly."

He continued, "In difficult times, the state must bear the burden and protect the lives of the people who have always thought of the country before themselves and made sacrifices. That is the reason for the existence of the state," and criticized, "The opposition party’s criticism of tailored support for affected industries as electioneering and their self-contradictory stance only confuses the public. This is not something to be used as a subject of political strife."

He concluded, "The opposition party should put aside the wasteful political strife obsessed with elections and show the public a fierce debate," emphasizing, "I hope they stop the shallow and bad politics that ignore easing the 'burden of the people' and only seek to gain 'People Power' during election periods."

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