Lee Heunseung: "I Have Never Met Kim Geonhee During the Proposal Process of the Kim Geonhee Act"

"Don't Use Bill Nicknames for Political Conflict"
"The Core Issue Is the Ban on Dog Meat Consumption"

Lee Heon-seung, a member of the People Power Party who proposed the so-called "Kim Geon-hee Act," officially titled the "Special Act on the Prohibition of Dog Meat Consumption and Support for Business Closure," raised his voice saying, "We should not engage in political strife over the nickname of the bill," denying that he ever met with First Lady Kim Geon-hee, wife of President Yoon Seok-yeol, during the bill's proposal process.

On the 15th, Lee said on MBC's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus," "I have never met (First Lady Kim) at all," emphasizing this point.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As Lee and members of both ruling and opposition parties are pushing for the "ban on dog meat consumption," some within the ruling party have nicknamed the bill the "Kim Geon-hee Act," citing First Lady Kim's strong interest in banning dog meat consumption. However, there are also many who view this negatively. Former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min criticized it as "flattering the president's wife."

In response, Lee said, "I don't know if former lawmaker Yoo holds that view, but in the past, many bills were named after people's names," adding, "That makes it easier to promote to the public." He cited examples such as the Kim Young-ran Act (Act on the Prohibition of Improper Solicitation and Graft), the Min-sik Act (Amendments to the Road Traffic Act and the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes), and the Yoon Chang-ho Act (Amendments to the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes), which gained public attention and were passed smoothly.

He said, "The name itself is not really important, is it? The essence is the ban on dog meat consumption," adding, "During the last presidential election, leading candidates from both ruling and opposition parties promised to ban dog meat consumption, and now 44 lawmakers from both sides have formed a bipartisan group to share this goal. Recently, the Presidential Office has also shown great interest and is lending support, so the atmosphere for passing this law is more ripe than ever."

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