Lee Jong-bae Criticizes Cho Hee-yeon's Remark "How Did Korea Become an Advanced Country"

Seoul City Council Member Lee Jong-bae Criticizes Seoul Superintendent of Education Cho Hee-yeon’s Controversial Remark: "How Did Korea Become a Developed Country?"

Lee Jong-bae, a member of the Seoul City Council’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee (People Power Party, proportional representation), criticized Seoul Superintendent of Education Cho Hee-yeon’s inappropriate remarks and speech during the regular session’s 3rd plenary meeting held on the 14th through a 5-minute free speech.

On that day, Lee said, "I am Lee Jong-bae, a proportional representative member. Yesterday, during the city administration questioning, I heard an unbelievable statement from Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon that made me doubt my ears. While responding to the respected Council Member Kim Hye-young’s question, Superintendent Cho said, ‘How did our country become a developed country?’?an absurd and outrageous remark. I cannot help but be shocked," he criticized.

He continued, "The free and prosperous Republic of Korea today did not become a developed country by chance. Rising from the ruins of the Korean War and from being one of the poorest countries with nothing, the current prosperity and development is the great Miracle on the Han River achieved through the sweat and tears of our people," he emphasized.

He added, "Superintendent Cho’s remark is a heinous slander that drives a nail into the hearts of our people and tramples on their blood, sweat, and sacrifices. I strongly urge Superintendent Cho to take full responsibility, kneel before the people with a repentant heart, and offer a sincere apology. Especially, I cannot help but express serious concern about the historical awareness of someone who is an educator," and requested, "I ask the chairperson to take strong measures."

Lee also said, "I would like to say one more thing. The council is a sacred hall of the people’s will. Therefore, laws, principles, and order must be observed more strictly here than anywhere else," he stressed.

In this city administration speech, the authority given to Superintendent Cho was to clearly explain the supplementary budget to the citizens. However, Superintendent Cho exceeded the given scope and tried to distort the essence of a specific ordinance unrelated to the supplementary budget and only made excuses, Lee criticized.

He added that Superintendent Cho said, "Including such content in the speech is customary. It is like President Yoon Suk-yeol not being given a chance to speak by Speaker Kim Jin-pyo during the budget speech at the National Assembly." This is a shameless sophism. Is it customary to make lengthy remarks unrelated to the topic?" he criticized.

He continued, "Which assembly in our country does that? Therefore, Superintendent Cho disrespected the council by not following its rules and principles. I strongly urge an apology and a promise to prevent recurrence before the citizens of Seoul," he asserted.

Furthermore, the ordinance clearly states that all speeches in the plenary session must be made with the chairperson’s permission. The chairperson has the authority and duty to maintain order in the plenary session and operate according to the ordinance and rules. For example, if someone applies to read a specific religious prayer, would the chairperson allow it? That should not be allowed.

This case is no different. Look at the distributed booklet of the city administration speech. The title clearly states it is a city administration speech regarding the supplementary budget. Therefore, the principle is that only content related to the supplementary budget should be spoken, and if someone intends to speak on unrelated matters, the chairperson must not allow it.

Allowing it would be neglect of duty. Compare the city administration speeches of Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon to see who was at fault clearly.

Therefore, the chairperson’s operation of the council according to the ordinance and principles in a reasonable manner and fulfilling responsibilities is clear, he emphasized.

Lee concluded, "Therefore, I cannot agree with the Democratic Party’s claim of pre-censorship and chairperson dictatorship, which I consider a bad provocation," and "I strongly urge the Democratic Party to exercise restraint."

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