Moon Hee-sang: "The Opposition Lost the Major Electoral District System Initiative to Yoon... They Must Wake Up"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Former National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang expressed high praise for President Yoon Suk-yeol's proposal of the 'large multi-member district system,' stating that the opposition party missed the opportunity to take the lead on political reform issues such as the large multi-member district system, expressing regret.

Former Speaker Moon appeared on KBS's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs' on the 10th and said, "I highly evaluate it in terms of talking about the future and preempting innovative tasks. Especially the fact that he talked about political reform is very groundbreaking."

Speaker Moon Hee-sang is entering the press conference room at the National Assembly on the 21st to hold a retirement press conference. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Earlier, President Yoon proposed the large multi-member district system, which elects 2 to 4 members per electoral district, in a New Year's media interview. National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo also expressed agreement, but both ruling and opposition parties have yet to present clear positions on this matter.

Former Speaker Moon said, "It is desirable for the country that the heads of the legislative and executive branches have simultaneously started to think along the same lines," adding, "The important thing is that this should be an issue the opposition party preempts, but they are hesitating, so they need to wake up significantly going forward."

He meant that the opposition party should have taken the lead on the political reform issue but lost the initiative to the president. Former Speaker Moon said, "This should have been pushed forward by the opposition rather than being the president's agenda. I express regret about that. The most urgent reform task we face is political reform," adding, "I have always argued that the first step in political reform is electoral system reform and constitutional amendment, no matter what anyone says. But the fact that this agenda was first brought up by the other side is somewhat problematic."

Regarding the necessity of political system reform, he explained, "We are practicing animal politics where it is do-or-die, winner-takes-all, jungle law, and the winning side becomes king," adding, "Because the opponent is defined not as a rival to compete with but as an enemy to kill, political disgust arises and political distrust among the people is widespread." He emphasized that political reform is necessary to restore trust within the social community.

However, he criticized the president's 'closed-off politics.' He said, "I hope the president coldly faces the reality of the minority government situation," adding, "It was good to bring up the three major reforms and the political reform agenda first, but we must not forget that these reforms are ultimately completed through legislation, which is the foundation of democracy."

Former Speaker Moon emphasized the importance of cooperation, saying, "National unity and cooperative governance are most needed now," and added, "The means are ultimately dialogue and respecting the National Assembly, but the president is not doing that."

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