Yoon Seok-yeol and Yoo Seung-min's Legendary Speech Amid 'Lie Controversy'

2015 Negotiating Group Speech Cited Amid Controversy Over 'Agreement on Income-Led Growth Theory'

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok]

[Image source=Yonhap News]

When the ruling party Saenuri Party was tabooing the Sewol ferry issue, then floor leader Yoo Seung-min raised the issue in a negotiation group speech. Former lawmaker Yoo said, "The families of the missing say their wish is to find the bodies and become bereaved families," adding, "Where in the world is there such a sad wish?" He continued, "Why does the state exist for the families of the victims and the missing?" and said, "Our politics should wipe away their tears," calling for unity.

He broke the conflict structure of Korean politics, where one side only talked about growth and the other only about welfare, and spoke of the need for a progressive party that talks about growth and a conservative party that talks about welfare, advocating politics of consensus.

In this speech, which mentioned growth the most, he presented a national vision that included major agendas such as civil servant pension reform and childcare reform, and emphasized moving toward medium burden and medium welfare. At the time, former lawmaker Yoo said, "I want to stand on the side of the suffering people and carry out courageous reforms," and concluded, "I hope that 'politics of consensus for the future beyond factions' will be one solution."

Former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min. / Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

Immediately after the speech, before adjourning the plenary session, the Speaker of the National Assembly gave an unprecedented high praise, calling it "a very excellent speech with excellent content." Even more unusual was that the opposition party at the time evaluated the ruling party floor leader's negotiation group speech as a "great speech." Considering the political atmosphere where one side only praises and the other only criticizes negotiation group speeches, this was surprising.

The historic speech by former lawmaker Yoo on April 8, 2015, changed his life thereafter. He presented the nation's future vision and challenges such as pension reform, but after receiving a verdict from the then president saying "politics of betrayal must be judged," he had to walk a thorny path.

Former lawmaker Yoo's speech was recently recalled. In a debate with Yoo on the 22nd during the party's presidential primary, former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl attacked Yoo by saying, "You said (in that speech) you agree with income-led growth." Yoo responded, "Don't lie," to which Yoon retorted, "Go home and read it." The next day, Yoo rebutted on social media, saying, "Not only does he claim lies, but he absurdly tells me to 'go home and read it.'"

Whose claim is correct?

Looking at the speech transcript recorded in the National Assembly at the time, there is the following passage.

"Economic growth has long been a conservative agenda. When the New Politics Alliance for Democracy spoke of 'income-led growth and inclusive growth,' I sincerely welcomed this new change. Regardless of the correctness of that claim, I was glad that the opposition party spoke of the value of growth itself. The fact that conservatives began to talk about welfare and progressives began to talk about growth is certainly a significant advancement in our politics."

"I also think the income-led growth theory proposed by the opposition party needs to be reconsidered. I agree with a proper pace of minimum wage increase and expansion of welfare spending for vulnerable groups as measures to alleviate poverty and polarization. I also acknowledge that raising the minimum wage and expanding welfare spending somewhat helps boost domestic demand by increasing consumption among low-income groups. However, as I mentioned earlier, given the great disaster of low growth predicted for our economy until 2100, we cannot call these measures a solution for growth. (Omitted) What I want to emphasize is that since the opposition party talks about the value of growth in this era, both ruling and opposition parties should recognize the difficulty of the solution and together walk the arduous path of reform for growth through politics of consensus."

His speech is evaluated as meaningful in that the progressive party talking about growth rather than only emphasizing welfare is a significant point. However, this evaluation is at the level of mentioning a common ground to seek political cooperation by noting that both ruling and opposition parties agree on the necessity of growth. Moreover, despite his evaluation of the opposition party's change, he pointed out the need to reconsider the income-led growth theory. He pays attention to the voice of the progressive party talking about growth, but says that this approach is unlikely to achieve the goal of growth.

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