Kang Byung-won "Opposition says no, so about one person may be eliminated? Approach is not right... I must make my decision today"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Regarding the statement made by first-term lawmakers of the Democratic Party of Korea that at least one of the three ministerial candidates is inevitably going to be disqualified, Kang Byung-won, a Supreme Council member of the party, pointed out that "while respecting the opinions of the first-term lawmakers, there is something regrettable" and criticized the approach as incorrect. He also emphasized that a decision must be made today, before the deadline for resubmitting the personnel hearing report (the 14th).

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 13th, Kang appeared on KBS Radio's "Choi Kyung-young's Strong Current Affairs" and commented on the previous day's announcement by 'Deomincho,' a gathering of first-term Democratic Party lawmakers, which strongly recommended to the Blue House that at least one ministerial candidate be deemed unfit. Kang said, "If there were clear disqualifying reasons for the candidates, they should have argued that it was impossible to perform the ministerial duties based on those reasons. However, it seems there is an approach that since conservative media and opposition parties say no, at least one candidate should be eliminated," adding, "That approach is not correct."

Kang said, "Didn’t President Moon Jae-in mention the problems of the personnel hearing system during his press conference on the 10th?" and added, "I believe many lawmakers in our party are aware of the president’s concerns."

Kang emphasized that the issue should not be dragged out until the resubmission deadline of the personnel hearing report on the 14th and that a decision must be made today. Since a meeting between President Moon and the new Democratic Party leadership is also scheduled for the same day, it is necessary to quickly resolve the matter today so that the party-government meeting can focus on major current issues such as the COVID-19 vaccine, real estate issues, and the Korea-US summit.

Kang questioned, "The resubmission period is until the 14th, so it would be until tomorrow evening. Would it be good for the meeting tomorrow to be widely reported in the media as the meeting where this issue was decided?" and said, "It should be a meeting focused on government current affairs." He reiterated, "It is right to handle it (even today)."

When asked by the host if it seems a decision will be made today, Kang replied, "Not 'seems,' but it is reasonable to do so."

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