[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On the 20th, Sim Sang-jung, the Justice Party presidential candidate, announced, "We will reduce and reorganize the Blue House Secretariat into a practical step organization and immediately abolish the chief secretary system of the Blue House, which takes the form of a shadow cabinet."
On the morning of the same day, at a forum co-hosted by the Korean Association for Public Administration, the Korean Association for Policy Studies, and JoongAng Ilbo held at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Candidate Sim emphasized, "Power and authority concentrated in one president must be dispersed. The Sim Sang-jung government will be a government that reduces the president's power," and made these remarks.
Candidate Sim said, "I will be a president who works with the cabinet, not a Blue House government," and added, "I will have the National Assembly recommend the Prime Minister." This means practically guaranteeing the Prime Minister's constitutional authority to propose cabinet members, with routine executive tasks handled by the State Council led by the Prime Minister, who will frequently engage in political consultations and communication with each party in the legislature.
He continued, "By actively promoting decentralization of the imperial presidential system, we will lay the foundation for a transition to a parliamentary-centered system."
He stated, "It is essential to transition to a pluralistic political system so that the legislature can respond daily to the voices of diverse citizens," and added, "To this end, we will strongly promote a transition to a multi-party system through electoral reform that enhances diversity and proportionality, and improvements to the negotiation group system. We will first strive to introduce a large constituency system starting from the June local elections."
Furthermore, he announced plans to strengthen the state's function of spending the budget for the welfare of the people, along with a plan to reorganize social ministries accordingly. Candidate Sim said, "We will reorganize the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Employment and Labor into the Ministry of National Health and the Ministry of Labor Welfare, and the Minister of Labor Welfare will become the Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs to oversee all social ministries." He also explained that the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will be reorganized into the 'Ministry of Gender Equality,' and principles of a gender-balanced cabinet and a generational solidarity cabinet will be introduced.
Candidate Sim emphasized, "The Sim Sang-jung government will be an 'innovative government,'" and added, "We will realize pluralistic coalition politics through responsible coalition governance with the legislature."
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