[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, sharpened his stance, saying he will thoroughly scrutinize the use of the 3rd supplementary budget (supplementary budget). He said he has collected suspected cases of election fraud and asked to present any additional cases. On the other hand, Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman, urged, "Even if you feel impatient, you must be patient and negotiate."
Floor leader Joo said at the members' meeting held at the National Assembly Budget Committee room on the afternoon of the 4th, "We do not fundamentally oppose the supplementary budget itself, but we will thoroughly scrutinize the funding sources and uses."
He criticized, "They submitted a supplementary budget amounting to 35.3 trillion won today and are asking to approve it by the end of this month. They are asking us to do it with our eyes closed. They say it is urgent due to 'post-COVID-19,' but only 1% of the budget is related to COVID-19, and they included non-urgent budgets such as solar power and Wi-Fi distribution."
He pointed out, "The Democratic Party's position is to unilaterally elect the chairperson tomorrow based on the regulation that the chairperson must be elected on the 5th. They also intend to take all standing committees on the 8th, but if you check the history of the opening speeches, it has only happened once, on July 10, 1967, 43 years ago."
Floor leader Joo continued, "Regarding election fraud, there have been many demands within the party and claims from various places, so we had the senior expert of the Public Administration and Security Committee extract all examples of alleged election fraud and compiled the National Election Commission's stance and reported positions into a comparison table. We do not make any definitive statements in this table, but we distributed it to make the complex claims easier to understand." He also requested that if there are other types or cases of election fraud claims, they should be presented.
Emergency committee chairman Kim prefaced his remarks as a 'personal opinion' and said, "The National Assembly is meaningless without the opposition party. Even during times when democracy was heavily suppressed in the past, the National Assembly had certain customs, and everything was done through consultation between the ruling and opposition parties. However, suddenly, in the 21st National Assembly, such customs are not being observed."
He added, "Regarding this point, I believe you will negotiate well centered on the floor leaders, but even if you feel a bit impatient, it would be wise to be patient and negotiate to the end while resisting. Please negotiate well and take an appropriate stance."
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