Ye: "The Biggest Topics at Seol Table Are Heating Bills Bomb and Yoon's Verbal Bomb"

'President's Verbal Bombshell' Also Major Topic
'UAE Enemy Iran' Visit Risk Pointed Out
Ruling Party Rebuttal: "What About Lee's Judicial Risk?"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] On the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday, the 24th, the Democratic Party of Korea launched a fierce attack, saying the biggest topics at the holiday table were the 'heating bill bomb' and the president's 'verbal bomb.' The opposition party urged the government to take measures and demanded a supplementary budget.

"Public anger over heating bills and price hikes... Prices must be controlled"

Cho Jung-sik, Secretary-General of the Democratic Party, held a press conference at the National Assembly that day and said, "The biggest topics at the Lunar New Year table were the 'heating bill bomb' and the 'verbal bomb.' Many people were frustrated not only by the rising prices without any countermeasures but also by the government's inability to present any measures. Prices must be controlled, but the government says it will focus on controlling the opposition party."

Kim Sung-hwan, Chairman of the Policy Committee, also pointed out the price hikes including heating bills. He said, "When I visited the local central market, the number of visitors had decreased so much that people said, 'Is this really Lunar New Year?'" He added, "During the three years of COVID-19, people managed with local currency and local love gift certificates, but this year, even those are hardly being used." He continued, "The heating bills have more than doubled, causing great hardship," and added, "I think the government should urgently allocate disaster reserve funds and actively support vulnerable groups struggling with the sharp rise in heating costs."

Regarding the 30 trillion won scale of the nine emergency livelihood projects announced by Representative Lee Jae-myung, Chairman Kim said, "It is time to seriously discuss and create alternatives. We proposed a broad framework, but the government remains silent." He stated, "We will do our best to persuade the ruling party and, if necessary, demand legislation, budget requests, and a full supplementary budget to address the difficult livelihood issues and support export recovery."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

"Lee's political oppression... Calls for 'Kim Geon-hee special investigation' grew louder"

The Democratic Party also raised its voice against the repeated summons of Representative Lee Jae-myung, calling it a 'senseless repeated summons investigation.'

Secretary-General Cho said, "The Lunar New Year public sentiment is that 'the Yoon administration is going too far.' There was a strong voice of anger and condemnation against the prosecution's tyranny, which is obsessed only with killing Representative Lee while not touching even a finger on the stock manipulation allegations against Mrs. Kim Geon-hee, despite overwhelming evidence."

He added, "There were loud calls saying, 'Everyone can see they are accomplices, so what is the prosecution doing? We need a special investigation into Kim Geon-hee.'" He emphasized, "The Democratic Party will fight alongside the people against the regression of democracy and the national crisis."

Secretary-General Cho also criticized President Yoon's remark that "Iran is the enemy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)." Cho said, "The remark caused international controversy, and the wrong explanations from the presidential office and government have only fueled criticism in Iran." He pointed out, "To the extent that people say the president's mouth is the greatest risk to South Korea." He continued his criticism regarding forced labor compensation, saying, "The government tramples on the nation's pride with submissive diplomacy only toward Japan."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Ruling party: "Populism to cover Lee's risks"

The People Power Party evaluated the Democratic Party's press conference as populism aimed at covering Representative Lee's 'illegal risks.'

Yang Geum-hee, senior spokesperson for the People Power Party, said in a statement, "They say they grasped public sentiment by visiting livelihood sites during the Lunar New Year holiday, but did they completely ignore the public's voice about the representative's illegal risks?" She added, "Stop trying to cover up Lee's crimes with populism and the people's taxes."

Regarding Representative Lee's 'emergency livelihood project,' Senior Spokesperson Yang criticized, "It has only been about twenty days since the new year, and they are presenting a large-scale supplementary budget as a livelihood project for an unavoidable issue." She pointed out, "They are packaging a policy that is nothing more than a one-time cash support as if it were a magic card to revive the economy."