The Democratic Party's Forced Passage of the Democratic Meritorious Service Act Called a "Self-Benefit Law"... Will Stop the Reckless Rush

Democratic Party Unilaterally Approves Bill at Political Affairs Committee Subcommittee on the 4th

On the 5th, the People Power Party urged to stop the ruling Democratic Party's unilateral legislative push on the "self-benefit law" related to the enactment of the Democratic Meritorious Persons Act, which was passed alone at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee subcommittee the day before.

Yoo Sang-beom, the senior spokesperson of the People Power Party, criticized in a statement on the day, saying, "While proposing to handle the law concerning the honor and treatment of those meritorious in the democratization movement to commemorate the noble value of 'democratization,' the transparency, fairness, and responsibility to the people in legislation were thoroughly ignored."

The Democratic Meritorious Persons Act is a bill that honors those who suffered death, injury, or conviction during the democratization movement, excluding the April 19 Revolution and the May 18 Democratization Movement, which are supported by special laws. The bill was passed solely by the opposition party at the Political Affairs Committee subcommittee the day before, with People Power Party members walking out.

On the 4th, the Legislation Review Subcommittee 1 of the Political Affairs Committee held a meeting at the National Assembly, chaired by Chairman Kim Jong-min. The meeting discussed the Act on the Treatment of Democratic Meritorious Persons (Democratic Meritorious Persons Act) and related matters. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Senior spokesperson Yoo explained, "This bill is no different from recognizing the Namminjeon incident, a representative public security case judged as an anti-state organization, the Busan Dongui University incident where seven police officers died, and the opposition movement against the Kim Young-sam administration as meritorious acts equal to the April 19 Revolution and the May 18 Democratization Movement," adding, "Proposing to honor those who have already received 116.9 billion won in compensation under the Democratization Compensation Act as national meritorious persons is essentially for the benefit of a specific group and is an abuse of legislative power."

He continued, "Even during the Moon Jae-in administration in 2021, the Democratic Meritorious Persons Act was promoted but stopped due to criticism as a 'self-benefit law' for the activist group. The people will no longer tolerate the Democratic Party's legislative dictatorship that stains the noble sacrifices of true democratic martyrs and damages the spirit of democratization. The People Power Party will join the people to stop the Democratic Party's anti-democratic legislative rampage," he said.

Jeon Ju-hye, the floor spokesperson, also pointed out, "It is clearly inappropriate to collectively recognize the parties involved in incidents that have not yet reached social consensus as democratic meritorious persons. That is why even the Moon Jae-in administration did not promote it during its time as the ruling party, conscious of criticism as the '86 activist group's self-benefit'."

Spokesperson Jeon added, "All the legislations that the Democratic Party is rushing unilaterally now, such as the Grain Management Act, the Yellow Envelope Act, the Broadcasting Three Acts, and the Interest-Free Student Loan Act, were not promoted when they were the ruling party," and criticized, "The Democratic Party, which regards democratization as its exclusive property, is now conducting legislative dictatorship. The anti-democratic forces disguised as democracy?this is the true face of the Democratic Party."

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