Jang Dong-hyeok: "'This Regime is Over' Remark, a Confession of Political Intent"

"An Attempt to Burden the Yoon Administration with Populist Legislation"

Regarding President Yoon Seok-yeol's veto of the amendment to the Grain Management Act, which was passed under the leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea, Jang Dong-hyuk, the floor spokesperson for the People Power Party, pointed out that Jeong Cheong-rae, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party, who said "this administration is over," "revealed the Democratic Party's political intentions behind pushing the Grain Management Act and confessed to it."

On the 5th, on SBS's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show,' Spokesperson Jang said, "'The administration is over' ultimately means confessing that they tried to burden the Yoon Seok-yeol government with this populist bill."

Supreme Council member Jeong stated on his social media immediately after President Yoon's veto was announced, "With the president's veto, this administration is over. Now it is the people's turn to exercise their veto against the president."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Spokesperson Jang emphasized, "Ultimately, the fundamental measure to stabilize rice prices is to reduce the rice cultivation area and support the cultivation of other competitive crops by the state. If the mandatory purchase clause is inserted to intervene in the market in advance, it is clear that supply will be disrupted. During the Moon Jae-in administration, Minister Hong Nam-ki also said that such reckless market intervention would cost astronomical expenses exceeding 1 trillion won and is very dangerous."

The Democratic Party plans to pursue reconsideration or alternative legislation. However, reconsideration requires a quorum of more than half and a two-thirds majority of those present, so it will not be easy if the People Power Party opposes it. Spokesperson Jang said, "Reconsideration will indeed be difficult as you mentioned, and even if alternative legislation is prepared, if it includes a mandatory purchase clause or similar mandatory provisions, it will be difficult to accept that alternative legislation as well."

He added, "Pursuing alternative legislation with similar content can only be seen as a political intention to burden the Yoon Seok-yeol government and gain an advantageous position in the general election by demanding reconsideration again just before next year's general election, exactly as Councilor Jeong did on Facebook. I will return what Councilor Jeong said to him. If they recklessly push for alternative legislation like that, the public will exercise a veto against the Democratic Party."

There are also concerns that if the Democratic Party unilaterally handles the Nurse Act, Yellow Envelope Act, National Assembly Act amendments, and Broadcasting Act in the future, President Yoon's veto responses may be repeated. Regarding this, Spokesperson Jang said, "We opposed these bills because of their problematic content, but continuing to push through such bills alone while repeatedly committing procedural violations that the Constitutional Court has ruled as wrong is unacceptable to us both in terms of content and procedure. We will likely have no choice but to recommend that the president request reconsideration again."

On the other hand, the Democratic Party argues that the president's frequent vetoes are intended to create a 'dominant ruling party's unilateral rule' frame. In response, Spokesperson Jang said, "I think the Democratic Party is just twisting their political intentions slightly and shifting the responsibility onto the People Power Party or the president."

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