President Yoon to Skip Tomorrow's National Assembly Opening Ceremony... "Prioritizing Normalization of the National Assembly"

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The Blue House announced on the 1st that President Yoon Suk-yeol will not attend the opening ceremony of the 22nd National Assembly scheduled for the 2nd. This marks the first time since the establishment of the Sixth Republic in 1987 that a president has not attended the National Assembly opening ceremony.

On the day, a Blue House official told Asia Economy that "normalization of the National Assembly is a priority" regarding President Yoon's absence from the opening ceremony tomorrow.

The official said, "There has been no apology despite reckless remarks calling someone a murderer," adding, "It is appropriate to first normalize and invite the National Assembly, which is recklessly pushing special prosecutor laws and impeachment motions."

He continued, "In a situation where one can only suspect that they intend to summon President Yoon for picket protests and public humiliation, is it really possible for him to attend?"

Previously, Rep. Jeon Hyun-hee of the Democratic Party of Korea did not apologize at all for the 'murderer' remark, and with the opposition party leveraging its number of seats to pressure the government through various hearings and the forced passage of contentious bills, it was judged inappropriate for President Yoon to deliver an opening speech at the National Assembly.

At a press conference on the 29th of last month, President Yoon also stated, "The current situation in the National Assembly is something I have never experienced before," and expressed the view that "the National Assembly should function normally."

The opening ceremony was originally scheduled for July 5th but was canceled due to ongoing conflicts between the ruling and opposition parties. At that time, the ruling party declared it would not attend after the opposition forcibly passed the Marine Corps special prosecutor law and requested President Yoon to also not attend.

Later, Speaker Woo Won-shik announced plans to hold the opening ceremony of the 22nd National Assembly on the 2nd, coinciding with the first regular session, but the Blue House judged that the situation in the National Assembly had not changed from two months ago and decided not to attend.

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