Choi Hyung-doo: "The Breakdown of the Final Agreement Was Due to the Power of First-term and Third-term Members... Not Kim Jong-in"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Choi Hyung-doo, floor spokesperson of the United Future Party, dismissed the Democratic Party's claim that Kim Jong-in, the party's emergency committee chairman, was the main cause of the breakdown in the negotiation over the organization of the National Assembly, saying, "Drawing a line and taking a clear stand was precisely due to the strong will of first-term and third-term-or-more lawmakers."

Choi appeared on YTN Radio's 'Noh Young-hee's Morning Start' on the 1st and said, "In the case of the United Future Party, first-term lawmakers now make up the majority. The voice of first-term lawmakers is very powerful."

Earlier, when negotiations broke down, Democratic Party lawmakers such as Kim Young-jin, Ko Min-jung, and Jin Sung-jun attributed the cause to Chairman Kim's involvement. In response, Chairman Kim explained on the 30th of last month, "Am I someone who pulls the strings behind the scenes?" denying the claim as untrue.

Choi said, "As negotiating counterparts, how can they make such absurd claims and slander the other side?" and added, "I think they assumed the Democratic Party's decision-making structure is similar and pushed the blame that way."

He continued, "I am also a first-term lawmaker now. First-term lawmakers do not respond to any authority or gag orders," adding, "About twenty third-term lawmakers said they would rather remain 'unfortunate third-term lawmakers who could have been committee chairs but did not take the position,' and they drew a clear line that if the principle and tradition of the opposition party holding the Judiciary Committee chairmanship is not upheld, we will not take any committee chairmanships, so the floor leader must make that clear."

Choi explained, "I don't know how this became known to the public, but it was revealed as the Democratic Party's floor leadership talked about various things," and said, "I was very surprised by the pressure Democratic Party lawmakers put on the Speaker of the National Assembly, including text message bombings and threats."

Regarding the supplementary budget review, he said, "We are currently unable to participate," and added, "Although we cannot accept the forced assignment of standing committees, we will inform the public about the problems with the budget within the National Assembly and from every podium in the Assembly, and propose alternatives."