[Summary] Opposition: "'Gukminuijim' Remark Is Not Appropriate"... Lee Jae-myung: "It Means Don't Be a Burden"

"As a member of the people, I can speak freely"
Lee Jae-myung criticizes excessive publicity expenses, saying "This is why they are mocked as 'Gukmin-ui Jim'"

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung is responding to questions from lawmakers during the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee's audit of Gyeonggi Province held at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office in Paldal-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do on the 19th. Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, on the 20th once again criticized the People Power Party (PPP) by saying, "I hope the PPP does not really become a 'burden to the people,'" engaging in a heated exchange with opposition lawmakers. During this process, PPP lawmakers caused a commotion by demanding an apology from Governor Lee and even calling for a recess.

At the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee's audit of Gyeonggi Province on the same day, PPP lawmaker Park Seong-min pointed out the issue of Gyeonggi Province's promotional budget, saying, "You recently called the People Power Party 'Gukmin-uijim' (a pun meaning 'burden to the people'). Isn't that too political?" He added, "It is not appropriate to refer to the main opposition party, the People Power Party, as 'Gukmin-uijim'." In response, Governor Lee said, "I advised that you should not say such things to the extent that you would be called 'Gukmin-uijim'."

Then Park asked, "Are you in a position to give advice to the National Assembly?" to which Lee replied, "I don't know if I am qualified or not, but as a member of the people, I think I have the right to speak."

As the situation escalated, Lee Heon-seung, head of the audit team from the PPP, intervened, saying, "During the audit, please refrain from defaming or mocking fellow lawmakers or parties," adding, "As a detainee and a witness, despite having a party name, mocking by calling 'Gukmin-uijim' is not an appropriate attitude." Governor Lee responded, "Since it is the head of the audit team's remark, I will think deeply about it."

On that day, PPP lawmakers dissatisfied with Governor Lee's attitude eventually demanded the suspension of the audit.

Lawmaker Park said in a procedural speech, "We cannot conduct the audit under these circumstances. Fundamentally, the governor should organize his thoughts about the skepticism toward the audit and the value of the main opposition party's existence, and have discussions with us for the audit to proceed. In the current state, the audit cannot continue," he pointed out.

Fellow party member Kim Eun-hye also said, "We requested the submission of materials, but some were omitted. Please provide the relevant materials," while emphasizing, "Please take a clear stance on the remarks and apologize to fellow lawmakers."

Then the head of the audit team demanded, "As the party secretaries of both parties said, it is inappropriate for the governor to repeatedly use the party name in this way. We want an expression of regret."

Governor Lee explained, "No matter how much I think about it, I have never launched a preemptive attack on the opposition. Since I am being attacked, I have to explain, right? Please understand," adding, "An apology comes from the heart. My words were made in good faith, hoping it would not be so." He also said, "I regret that it may be perceived differently and hurt the listeners."

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung is reporting on work during the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee's audit of Gyeonggi Province at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office in Paldal-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do on the morning of the 19th. / Photo by Joint Press Corps

This is not the first time Governor Lee has referred to the People Power Party as 'Gukmin-uijim.' On the 18th, he posted a message on his Facebook titled, "Criticizing 10 people who ate 50,000 won Japanese food and then ate soybean paste stew as a waste of meal money. The reason why they are mocked as 'Gukmin-uijim.'"

In the post, Governor Lee said, "The era of manipulating public opinion through information distortion and agitation is over, but the People Power Party and conservative media still seem to regard the people as insignificant beings easily manipulated by agitation," and criticized, "A certain PPP lawmaker and conservative media accuse me of spending twice as much on promotional expenses as Nam Kyung-pil and say that 43% of the budget was spent on promoting the basic income local currency policy, criticizing the excessive promotional budget."

Earlier, on the 17th, PPP lawmaker Park Soo-young pointed out that 25.646 billion won was spent on promotional expenses from July 2018, when Governor Lee's term began, to August 2020, saying, "It is inappropriate to excessively spend on political policy promotion."

Governor Lee rebutted, "To clarify the facts, the person who nearly doubled the promotional budget from 6.4 billion won in 2016 to 10.7 billion won in 2018 was Governor Nam Kyung-pil, who prepared the 2017 budget, and I only slightly increased it to 12.6 billion won in 2020."

He explained, "Promotional budgets exist in central and local governments and public enterprises, but Gyeonggi Province's promotional budget for a population of 13.7 million (one-fourth of the entire population, 1.4 times that of Seoul) is miserably low compared to other metropolitan cities."

He also added, "The promotional budget is mainly used for press management unrelated to residents, so it is commendable that Gyeonggi Province focused on promoting the basic income local currency policy directly related to residents' lives."

Then Governor Lee targeted the People Power Party, saying, "Even after being severely judged by the people's candlelight, a collective intelligence body, they still regard the people as passive beings manipulated by fabrication and are engrossed in slander and agitation, so they are mocked not as the People Power Party but as 'Gukmin-uijim'."