Joo Ho-young's Message at the End of 7-Month Term: "Division Leads to Defeat"

"New Floor Leadership Should Focus on Unity, Not Division"
2023 Budget Agreement Within the Year Highlighted as an Achievement

Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People Power Party, emphasized 'party unity' to the next floor leadership as he concluded his approximately seven-month term.

After a farewell press conference held at the National Assembly main building on the morning of the 6th, Floor Leader Joo told reporters, "I hope the new floor leadership will prioritize unity and communication above all else, without creating divisions within the party."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He continued, "Unity and communication among lawmakers are the most important. When united and cohesive, tremendous power can be exerted, but I have seen many cases where even the largest organizations collapse due to division. The ruling party is a party that bears infinite responsibility before the people and history, so it should not focus on conflicts caused by the opposition's behavior but prioritize taking care of people's livelihoods and overseeing state affairs," he said.

He also stressed the importance of winning the general election. Floor Leader Joo said, "Only by winning next year's general election can we overcome the situation of a minority government and achieve our national policy goals."

He cited the agreement on the 2023 budget bill within the year and the agreement on the Itaewon disaster parliamentary investigation as his greatest achievements. Floor Leader Joo said, "It was the first year after the regime change, and in an overwhelming minority government situation, there was no way to pass the budget without agreement. Even a provisional budget, which had never been experienced since the founding of the nation, was imminent, so reaching an agreement was an achievement. There were dozens of items that needed to be agreed upon in the budget; our party had items to push through, and there were items demanded by the Democratic Party that we could not accept, but after efforts, the budget was passed by agreement," he emphasized. He added, "I also consider it an achievement that we were able to conclude the tragic Itaewon disaster parliamentary investigation by agreement."

In addition, Floor Leader Joo handled 89 national policy tasks, including the so-called 'K-Chips Act,' and reached an agreement with the Democratic Party to hold a plenary committee for electoral system reform.

He also expressed regret about the 'minority government' situation. Floor Leader Joo said, "While I do not deny the principle of majority rule in the legislature, procedural importance must be strictly observed, but the Democratic Party has committed acts of violence that ignored such procedures and legitimacy. They treated members who disguised their resignation or left the party (Democratic Party) as members of our party and processed the agenda adjustment committee's 90-day period in just 30 minutes. I believe this will remain a dark chapter in Korean legislative history, and that is the most regrettable point," he said.

Describing the past period as a 'time of infinite patience,' Floor Leader Joo reflected, "Sometimes the floor leader position is described as an extreme job, but especially in a minority government situation and during the first year of a regime change with power alternating, it was a super-extreme job with many hardships."

After the party leader position became vacant due to the disciplinary action by the party ethics committee against former party leader Lee Jun-seok in August last year, Floor Leader Joo was appointed as the emergency response committee chairman to manage the situation. However, he stepped down after 17 days due to a court injunction suspending his duties, and in September last year, he was elected as floor leader through a primary. Although his original term was until September 18 of this year, Floor Leader Joo decided to serve only the remaining term of former floor leader Kwon Seong-dong.

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