Joo Ho-young "Responding While Watching the Dismissal Recommendation Process... Severe Political Conflict if Forced"

Press Conference Held at the National Assembly on the Afternoon of the 30th

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, is speaking at a press conference held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 30th. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporters Bomryeong Geum and Hyunji Kwon] As the Democratic Party of Korea submitted a motion to dismiss Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, the People Power Party expressed a stance of waiting to see the situation rather than immediately boycotting the parliamentary audit.

On the afternoon of the 30th, Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, held a press briefing at the National Assembly and told reporters, "We will decide how to proceed with the parliamentary audit while observing the process of the dismissal motion." The Democratic Party submitted the dismissal motion against Minister Lee to the legislative affairs office at 4 p.m. that day. They plan to handle the dismissal motion at the plenary session of the National Assembly on the 2nd of next month.

In response, Floor Leader Joo said, "Since there are several stages in processing the dismissal motion, we will decide while observing those stages," and added, "We intend to respond while watching the process."

He also said, "So far, we agreed on the parliamentary audit to investigate the causes and responsibilities of the Itaewon tragedy, establish measures to prevent recurrence, and hold those responsible accountable. However, the Democratic Party brought up the dismissal motion even before the parliamentary audit began."

When asked whether the dismissal motion and the parliamentary audit could be separated from the budget bill, Floor Leader Joo replied, "Because this is a very complex economic crisis, the budget must be processed on time to avoid triggering a crisis related to the budget bill. Therefore, the dismissal motion against Minister Lee should neither be submitted nor processed," adding, "If the dismissal motion is forced through, the budget bill processing will fail and severe political strife will ensue."

Regarding the Democratic Party's move to submit a single-party revised budget bill, Floor Leader Joo said, "I think that is impossible," and added, "There has never been such a case since the establishment of the Republic of Korea government, and if cuts are made, revenues and expenditures will not balance."

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