"Ruling Party Must Remove 'Deobureo' and 'Minju' from Party Name"
"National Assembly Has Fallen from Lawmaker to Executive Branch's Lackey"
"Main Culprits of Real Estate Policy Failure Must Be Immediately Dismissed"
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, criticized the July extraordinary session of the National Assembly, saying, “In short, it was not a National Assembly but a Democratic Party of Korea caucus. It was reminiscent of the slogan of the Workers' Party of Korea, ‘If the party decides, we do it,’” and added, “If the government and ruling party continue to trample on the National Assembly, they should take down its signboard.”
At the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly that day, Ahn said, “The Democratic Party should remove the words ‘Together’ and ‘Democratic’ from its party name,” and added, “The inconsistency between the party name and the behavior you show is simply absurd and an insult to language.”
He pointed out, “They skipped even the so-called formalities, completely abandoned procedural legitimacy, and pushed through recklessly. Even for tax reform bills that have a huge impact on people’s lives, there was no proper report or explanation. Such a thing has never happened since democratization in 1987.”
He continued, “All these troubles were triggered by the president’s single order to ‘pass the law within July,’” and added, “A political system where instructions become law ? we call this dictatorship. Under the Moon Jae-in administration, the National Assembly has fallen from a check on the executive branch to a rubber stamp and a lackey of the executive.”
Ahn addressed President Moon Jae-in, saying, “As the highest person responsible for state affairs, I hope you sincerely apologize to the people for the confused real estate policy and chaotic governance,” and stated, “You stubbornly insisted that ‘speculators are the problem, not supply shortage,’ but without a single apology, you suddenly changed the real estate policy direction overnight. The main culprits of this policy failure must be immediately dismissed.”
Ahn criticized, “The Moon administration’s real estate policy was, in a word, confused and hasty. They reversed their statement that ‘there is no shortage of supply’ and suddenly announced a drastic increase in supply without any apology or explanation,” and asked, “Are the people in the Moon administration over the past three years different from those now? Is it really that difficult to admit mistakes?”
He added, “The chaotic and sloppy appearance inside the administration is even more pathetic. The government says buildings can be 50 stories high, but Seoul City insists on 35 stories no matter what,” and said, “The government pushes forward without consulting local governments, and Seoul City fights among themselves, citing the late mayor’s legacy like North Korea. Meanwhile, the innocent people are the ones whose lips are parched and spines bent.”
Ahn emphasized, “The whole country is being hit by a deluge. Even if the ruling and opposition parties fight, they must unite wholeheartedly in disaster prevention and recovery,” and stressed, “Especially now, when multiple national disasters have struck, what the government and ruling party should focus on is not political attacks on the opposition or criticism and retaliation against upright public officials such as the Audit Board chairman and Prosecutor General, but support for the bereaved families and disaster victims and damage recovery.”
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