Ahn Cheol-soo: "The ruling party wants to take all standing committees? It's like going back to the Yushin era"

"You may mistake it for progress in history... but there is no benevolent dictatorship"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, criticized the claim on the 28th that the Democratic Party of Korea intends to take all 18 chairmanships of the National Assembly standing committees, saying, “It is too authoritarian and arrogant to view this as a strategic statement aimed at securing a favorable outcome in the negotiation for the organization of the National Assembly,” and added, “It denies the systems and practices established as achievements of the 1987 democratization regime.”

At the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly that day, Ahn said, “How is this any different from returning to the Yushin era and the Fifth Republic when the National Assembly was a rubber stamp for the Blue House?” and “They call themselves a candlelight government and a reform government, yet they intend to imitate the anti-democratic dictatorship of authoritarian regimes. Does this make any sense?”

Ahn pointed out, “The Blue House and the ruling party may mistakenly believe that exclusive governance is reform and historical progress, but there is no benevolent dictatorship in the world,” and added, “Even if King Sejong ruled, we cannot go back to the Joseon Dynasty.”

Ahn criticized, “The people and the times point to the future, but the ruling party is looking backward,” and questioned, “Is raising issues about former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook’s bribery case and demanding a reinvestigation of the KAL plane terrorist incident really the top priority for the super ruling party that should be managing the country’s serious situation as if preparing for wartime finances?”

Ahn said, “The current ruling party’s intention seems not to be politics of compromise and concession, but to push all matters into confrontations of camp versus camp, ruling versus opposition, and deep-rooted evils versus reform, thereby dividing the people and dragging the fight until the presidential election,” and urged, “I call for politics that moves forward, not backward, politics that heads toward the future.”