Jung Jin-seok: "It is the United Party's duty to resist the ruling party's arrogance"

Jung Jin-seok, a member of the United Future Party, is entering the senior lawmakers' meeting with Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman, held at the National Assembly on the 16th of last month.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Jeong Jin-seok, a member of the Future United Party, who announced that he would not take the opposition party's share of the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, stated on the 30th, "As a politician, becoming the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly might be rewarding, but this is not a situation to weigh such rewards right now."

He said in an interview with Edaily on the same day, "In the current National Assembly situation, whether or not to be the Deputy Speaker is a trivial matter."

He continued, "With irrational and anti-democratic parliamentary violence taking place, and party members refusing to take the chairmanship of standing committees, sitting in the chairman's seat as Deputy Speaker is something I cannot accept myself," explaining his reason for rejecting the Deputy Speaker position.

Then, Rep. Jeong added, "Criticizing and resisting the government and ruling party's arrogance and unilateral actions is the responsibility the people have given to the United Party. If we just watch the Democratic Party's arrogance and unilateral actions, we are shirking responsibility."

Earlier, on the 29th of last month, the negotiation for the first half organization of the 21st National Assembly finally broke down. The United Party announced immediately after the breakdown that it would not take the seven standing committee chairmanships allocated to their party.

Afterwards, Rep. Jeong stated on his Facebook, "As a protest against the unprecedented anti-democratic parliamentary violence, I will not take the Deputy Speaker position."

Meanwhile, Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Party, held a press conference immediately after the negotiation breakdown and said, "Since the Democratic Party is unilaterally operating the National Assembly, we judged that taking the standing committee chairmanships would only cause accusations of being a mere figurehead or obstruction," and added, "We decided not to take the seven standing committee chairmanships proposed by the Democratic Party."