No Cancellation of Gimhae New Airport Agreed by 5 Provinces
Concerns Over Special Law Skipping Preliminary Feasibility Study
Compensation Needed for COVID-19 Affected Groups but "Hype" Without Unnecessary Budget Adjustments
Corruption Investigation Office Uses Only Logic to Suppress Prosecution
Park Beom-gye, Criminal Defendant, Nominated as Minister of Justice
Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending the floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 26th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@
[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] On the 27th, Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, stated, "Making important national projects into individual laws without preliminary feasibility studies will set a bad precedent," and announced plans to hold an emergency committee meeting in Busan on the 1st of next month to gather on-site opinions regarding Gadeokdo.
That morning, in a phone interview with BBS Radio's Park Kyung-soo on the Morning Journal, Floor Leader Joo said, "The Democratic Party is desperate ahead of the election and is trying to benefit by exploiting Busan citizens' belief that Gadeokdo will revive Busan's economy," adding, "They intend to pass it through the February National Assembly and, when problems are pointed out, accuse opponents of opposing Gadeokdo to use it for election purposes, which is obvious."
Floor Leader Joo said, "If a new airport in the Yeongnam region is necessary, the location has been debated for more than ten years," and added, "Five cities and provinces agreed to expand Gimhae New Airport, and it was decided by ADPi (A?roports de Paris Ing?nierie), but Busan and the Democratic Party have brought up Gadeokdo." He also said, "The Prime Minister's Office verification team has not definitively canceled Gimhae, and the chairman has not canceled it either," and continued, "Without national cancellation, they want to proceed by making just one law for Gadeokdo Airport, which was estimated to cost between 8 trillion and nearly 20 trillion won ten years ago, and now it will cost much more." He pointed out that what will happen to Miryang, which was the second choice at the time, is also an issue.
Regarding the legislation of the compensation law, Floor Leader Joo emphasized, "It is naturally necessary to inject finances and restore compensation for those affected by COVID-19," but added, "The problem is the funding." He said, "The budget costing tens of trillions of won does not fall from the sky. Unnecessary budgets must be adjusted, but the Democratic Party government has not done that and is making a fuss ahead of the April by-elections," and added, "One year has passed since COVID-19, but no budget for damage compensation was allocated at the end of last year or this year's budget planning." Floor Leader Joo said, "They have spent 9 trillion won at the beginning of the year but have not paid even half, and the fuss is populism aimed at the by-elections," adding, "If saving the budget is insufficient, deficits are acceptable, but they must present a plan on how to do it."
Regarding the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Unit, he said, "The long-discussed issue was investigating the living power, but that is nowhere to be seen, and they are pushing the logic of suppressing the prosecution," adding, "Only the chief has been appointed, but prosecutors and investigators have not been appointed, and according to the chief I met yesterday, it will take 7 to 8 weeks to organize the unit."
About Park Beom-gye, the nominee for Minister of Justice, he said, "After the personnel hearing, it is the first time in our country that a person who should be tried as a criminal defendant in court is becoming Minister of Justice," and added, "The number of people appointed without the adoption of a personnel hearing report in this government is comparable to the 14 years of Roh Moo-hyun, Lee Myung-bak, and Park Geun-hye."
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