"I Will Complete Roh Moo-hyun's Political Reform Legacy"…Kim Jin-pyo Expresses Earnest Determination

Reflecting on Former President Roh's Call for Grand Coalition and Political Reform Will
Introducing His Political Entry Through the 14th Memorial Speech

Speaker of the National Assembly Kim Jin-pyo promised political reform on the 23rd while commemorating the late former President Roh Moo-hyun. Speaker Kim also shared anecdotes about former President Roh, including the reasons that led him to enter politics.

In his eulogy at the memorial service for former President Roh held in Bongha Village, Gimhae, Gyeongnam, Speaker Kim said, "In 2004, when the storm of impeachment was raging, I entered the path of politics with the determination to protect the President and support him." He added, "Now, as my political career is nearing its end, I believe completing the political reform legacy left by the President is my final task."

Speaker Kim expressed concern, saying, "There is worry that the ruling and opposition parties, preoccupied with immediate gains and losses ahead of the election, might fail political reform once again." He emphasized, "Even if it means giving up half of the power, I will approach this with the President’s earnest heart that was determined to achieve political reform."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He pledged, "I will set our politics right as a capable democracy, overcoming regionalism, winner-takes-all, factional politics, and fandom politics." He promised, "I will wholeheartedly and sincerely fulfill the political reform legacy so that the President can look down from the heavens with a broad smile and say, ‘Hey, this feels good.’"

Speaker Kim recalled, "These days, I often think about the political reform legacy left by the President. He regarded overcoming regionalism as his lifelong mission and said he would even hand over half of the power, including the authority to form the cabinet, if only the election law that breaks the regional structure was agreed upon. He also envisioned a grand coalition politics that transcends factions to end the old politics of mutual obstruction." He added, "The more I think about how desperate our politics must have been for him to say such things, the heavier my heart becomes."

Speaker Kim also shared anecdotes from when he met former President Roh during the transition committee period. He recalled the moment when former President Roh, who had said, ‘I have been focused only on growth, but how long must we cling to the economy alone?’ asked back to Kim, who had emphasized the importance of the economy, ‘Then how should we do well in the economy?’ Speaker Kim introduced this by saying, "I met a politician with the great courage of a mountain who was willing to set aside even his lifelong convictions in the face of objective facts." He added, "That question changed my life completely."

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