Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 14th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@
[Asia Economy reporters Naju-seok and Park Joon-yi] The Democratic Party of Korea has recently decided to launch a ‘Livelihood Promotion Team’ in response to a series of economic situations such as rising prices and stock market crashes. Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, will serve as the head, and senior lawmakers will take charge as team leaders to visit high-price areas and devise countermeasures.
On the 14th, Floor Leader Park said at a floor countermeasure meeting held at the National Assembly, "As criticism that the government must do something about the ineffective high oil prices poured in, President Yoon Suk-yeol only announced yesterday that he would promote measures to ease the burden on the people," adding, "It is very late, yet they call it a ‘preemptive measure’."
He said, "Fuel costs, dining-out expenses, and public utility fees have already risen significantly, and an additional gas fee increase is also expected in July," and added, "The problem is that there is no leadership or control tower to solve the high inflation," pointing out, "There has been no ‘high-level party-government-presidential’ meeting to prepare price measures for over a month since the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration."
Floor Leader Park criticized, "The two economic ministerial meetings only produced ineffective measures," and said, "They say they will set the import pork tariff quota to 0%, but major imported pork already has no tariffs."
Referring to the recent stock market crash, he said, "Ten million retail investors are shedding tears of blood, but the Yoon Suk-yeol government is helpless," and pointed out, "There is no news of an emergency countermeasure meeting amid the extraordinary situation of stock market crashes and rapid exchange rate hikes." Floor Leader Park said, "The president only shouts vague and general slogans like ‘do your best,’ and the government neglects the painful reality of people’s livelihoods with habitual squeezing," adding, "The People Power Party seems to have forgotten whether it is the ruling or opposition party as it is absorbed in internal party issues rather than people’s livelihoods."
Floor Leader Park said, "Since stabilizing people’s livelihoods is the essence of politics, I will not only blame the incompetence of the Yoon Suk-yeol government," and added, "I will personally take charge as head and launch the ‘Livelihood Priority Action Team’ today, with lawmakers at the level of standing committee secretaries as team leaders." He continued, "We will divide urgent livelihood issues into six areas and start direct communication such as field visits from this week," and said, "We will conduct fact-finding inspections and establish effective measures to become a strong force in solving the people’s livelihood issues, and focus on ensuring that the party’s changes can sprout from the field of people’s livelihoods."
Democratic Party floor spokesperson Lee Su-jin told reporters, "Kim Seong-hwan, the chairman of the Policy Committee, will serve as deputy head of the Livelihood Promotion Team, and it will start with teams for price stabilization measures, COVID-19 damage support, household debt measures, freight survival, introduction of a delivery price linkage system, and protection of the rights and interests of the disabled. We plan to form additional teams to address issues such as rural and fishing village problems, labor union issues, and industrial accident workers by conveying many lawmakers’ field voices."
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