Park Hong-geun "K-Semiconductor Faces Worst Crisis... Yoon Must Develop Strategy to Minimize Damage"

"No True Allies in Global Competition"
Jeong Soon-shin Incident, "Yoon Seok-yeol's Glory... Truth Investigation at the National Assembly Level"

Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, urged the government on the 6th to promptly prepare countermeasures regarding the U.S. 'Semiconductor Support Act.'

Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at an expanded executive meeting at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 6th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the morning of the same day, at an expanded executive meeting held at the National Assembly, Floor Leader Park said, "Following the belated response to the U.S. IRA Act, the incompetent diplomacy of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration has brought K-semiconductors to the worst crisis."

The United States announced the Semiconductor Support Act, also known as the 'CHIPS Act,' on the 28th of last month, which provides partial cost support to companies building new semiconductor factories in the country. However, to apply for the subsidies, companies are required to provide corporate information such as profitability indicators proving financial soundness, share excess profits, and grant access rights to factories and other facilities, which is perceived as a burden for domestic companies.

Floor Leader Park pointed out these U.S. semiconductor subsidy payment criteria as "poisonous clauses," saying, "There is a great concern about the leakage of core technologies, and since our companies have large-scale production facilities in China, it is literally a 'situation of being surrounded on all sides'."

He continued, "Companies are demanding the government to 'take active measures,' but the government maintains a principled stance that only companies applying for subsidies will be accepted, not as a mandatory condition," criticizing the government's position.

Floor Leader Park questioned, "Was the export strategy meeting merely for public relations?" and criticized, "President Yoon Seok-yeol is completely hands-off on important national economic issues." He also said, "Although they shout about nurturing semiconductor talent, there is neither a strategy nor an alternative to overcome the U.S. subsidy crisis," raising his voice that "strategic countermeasures to minimize damage must be prepared from now on." He emphasized, "We must actively raise issues, such as minimizing information disclosure," and stressed, "There are no eternal allies in global competition."

On the same day, Floor Leader Park criticized the 'Jeong Soon-shin incident,' in which the head of the National Police Agency’s National Investigation Headquarters was ousted due to allegations of his son's school violence, calling it "Yoon Seok-yeol’s version of Glory." Park said, "Although the full story of the Jeong Soon-shin incident has been revealed, there has been no apology or accountability for the personnel failure," and added, "The absurd system that forces pain on (school violence) victims must be corrected."

He went on to say, "All illegal allegations related to Jeong Soon-shin’s lawyer family, including obstruction of official duties, must be thoroughly investigated," and added, "The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) should also strictly investigate Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon and the personnel line of the Presidential Office." He emphasized, "We will make every effort at the National Assembly level through the fact-finding TF."