People Power Party: "The 21st National Assembly is a Year of Neglecting Duties"... Urges Formation of Ruling-Opposition Livelihood Consultative Body

Kim Ki-hyun, Acting Leader of the People Power Party, is attending the Emergency Response Committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the 31st and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] The People Power Party marked the first anniversary of the 21st National Assembly's opening by criticizing the government and ruling party's failures and urging the formation of a ruling-opposition-government livelihood consultative body.

Kim Ki-hyun, Acting Party Leader and Floor Leader of the People Power Party, stated at the emergency committee meeting on the morning of the 31st, "The People Power Party will no longer tolerate the incompetent Moon Jae-in administration's 'solo governance.'" He added, "We once again urge the Blue House and the ruling party to set aside their interests and immediately form a livelihood consultative body to resolve the housing hell and another to alleviate the tax bomb, even starting today."

Acting Leader Kim criticized, "The 21st National Assembly, marking its first year, has been a year of dereliction of duty that condoned a 'livelihood collapse pandemic' due to the ruling party's arrogance, hypocrisy, double standards, and incompetence." He pointed out, "The reckless legislation pushed through with a supermajority led to soaring jeonse and monthly rent prices, triggering a real estate crisis, and the flawed income-led growth policy caused a job disaster."

Specifically, he recalled the real estate failures, saying, "According to data analyzed by the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice, the price of a 25-pyeong (approximately 82.6 square meters) apartment in Seoul rose by 82% during the four years of the Moon Jae-in administration, and the youth perceived unemployment rate surged by 3.2 percentage points from 23.6% in the first quarter of 2017 to 26.5% in the first quarter of this year."

He continued, "Meanwhile, Hong Jang-pyo, who led the failed income-led growth policy, was promoted to president of the Korea Development Institute (KDI), a government research institute, and despite the job disaster, Hwang Deok-soon, former job chief, was appointed head of the Labor Research Institute. This has turned into a feast of job distribution among pro-government figures," adding, "It eerily overlaps with the extravagant Yeonsangun era, neglecting the people's livelihood."

He also criticized, "The ruling party's 'reckless rampage,' which has trampled on the values of fairness and justice under the guise of so-called 'prosecutorial reform' while secretly aiming to control the prosecution, continues to persist with habitual arrogance that ignores the people and sidelines the opposition, even after receiving a whip far harsher than a bamboo stick."

Regarding the recently controversial special supply system for public officials' apartments in Sejong Special Self-Governing City, he stated, "The ruling party still ignores the demand for a state audit by the three opposition parties," and insisted, "Regardless of abolishing the special supply system, an immediate and thorough investigation must be conducted."

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