Jang Je-won, Chairman of the Public Administration Committee, Uses Harsh Language Toward Supervised Agency Heads
Cheon Ha-ram Criticizes as "Outdated"
"What Are You Doing?" Calls Out Woo Sang-ho, Democratic Party Lawmaker
Jang Je-won, a member of the People Power Party and chairman of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, has recently sparked controversy by shouting in a high-handed tone mixed with informal language at the head of an agency under the committee's jurisdiction during a public meeting. Previously, Woo Sang-ho of the Democratic Party of Korea also raised his voice using informal language in a committee meeting, bringing veteran lawmakers into the spotlight for similar reasons.
On the 24th, Cheon Ha-ram, the People Power Party's Jeonnam Suncheon-gap district committee chairman, mentioned in a BBS Radio interview the incident on the 22nd during the Public Administration and Security Committee's full meeting, where Jang reprimanded Park Chan-jin, Secretary General of the Central Election Commission, for moving his seat during a current affairs inquiry, criticizing him as "outdated."
At the time, Jang said to Secretary General Park, "In my 12 years as a lawmaker, this is the first time I've seen an agency head leave without the chairman's permission," and raised his voice, "Are you disregarding the National Assembly?" Park explained, "I received a note from an Election Commission staff member telling me to leave," but instead, Jang banned that staff member from entering the National Assembly in the future, asking, "Where did you learn that?"
Jang Je-won, Chairman of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, is speaking at the full committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the 22nd. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@
At that time, Secretary General Park had moved from the podium to the waiting area together with Han Chang-seop, Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and Yoon Hee-geun, Commissioner of the National Police Agency, after responding to questions from People Power Party lawmaker Kim Yong-pan. Jang called Park back to the podium and repeatedly questioned him, saying, "Who do you think you are sitting there (in the waiting area)?" and "Are you leaving while a lawmaker is questioning?" Cheon pointed out, "It may be unpleasant, but is it necessary to shout like that and especially use informal language?"
Cheon also criticized, "Recently, Woo Sang-ho also used informal language, and I think the culture where senior lawmakers speak informally to attending colleagues or agency heads should disappear."
Earlier, Woo also caused controversy on the 21st during the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee's full meeting by shouting informal remarks such as "First-term lawmakers should stay quiet" and "What are you doing, seriously?" The controversy arose when, amid a clash between ruling and opposition parties over the achievements of President Yoon Seok-yeol's Korea-Japan summit, Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Kyung-hyup played a YouTube video from Cheonggong titled "We should be thankful to Japan" on the meeting room screen.
People Power Party lawmaker Tae Young-ho strongly protested the YouTube playback, and Kim Seok-ki, acting chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee and a People Power Party secretary, pointed out, "Audio output requires agreement among secretaries." When the committee's senior expert explained, "The reason for prohibiting audio during the national audit videos is because it could become indirect evidence from an unadopted witness," Woo responded to the senior expert, saying, "Is there a law? It's funny how you keep saying 'let's see, let's see,'" and added, "Where are you talking nonsense like that? Get it right, seriously."
Cheon said, "These behaviors ultimately make the public think that lawmakers are trying to dominate rather than serve the people," and criticized, "I believe that the higher one's position, the more humble one should be."
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