'Review of Gas and Electricity Price Hike' Lee Jae-myung's Demand Met with Ruling Party's "Are You a Watermelon?" Response

Opposition Suddenly Calls for Reconsideration of Proposed Fare Hike
Joo Ho-young: "Irresponsible Populist Agitation Policy"
Han Mu-kyung Targets "Two-Faced Person, Lee Jae-myung"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, demanded a full reconsideration of the planned gas and electricity rate hikes for the second quarter. In response, Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, strongly opposed, saying, "They are attacking the government as a subject of irresponsible populist agitation policies."

At the floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 28th, Floor Leader Joo pointed out, "(Lee’s claim) is not only an irresponsible assertion but also a statement that contradicts what his party said just a few months ago."

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He continued, "Last December, when the amendment to the Korea Electric Power Corporation Act (KEPCO Act), which increases the issuance limit of Korea Electric Power Corporation bonds (KEPCO bonds), was rejected once due to opposition from Democratic Party lawmakers, those lawmakers emphasized that the fundamental solution was to raise electricity rates and demanded the government submit a schedule and roadmap for electricity rate hikes," adding, "Having created such factors for electricity rate increases and insisting that the issue should be resolved through electricity rate hikes, now the party leader says not to raise electricity rates. I wonder if he has forgotten what happened just a few months ago or if his aides missed it."

Last December, when the KEPCO Act amendment increasing the KEPCO bond issuance limit was submitted to the plenary session, Democratic Party lawmaker Yang Yi-won-young opposed it, arguing that increasing the issuance limit without raising gas and electricity rates was "like passing debt onto our children." The amendment was rejected once. After much back and forth, the ruling and opposition parties reconsidered and agreed on the amendment, which was finally passed, but electricity rate hikes became inevitable. However, suddenly, at the Supreme Council meeting the day before, Lee said, "The government is trying to push through gas and electricity rate hikes in the second quarter," and "After neglecting the heating cost bomb crisis, now that winter is over, they intend to impose a public utility cost bomb on the people again," sparking controversy.

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, is speaking at the floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 28th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

In response, Floor Leader Joo said, "The main opposition party not only fails to apologize for causing the fundamental reason for electricity rate hikes and cooperate in finding solutions but also irresponsibly uses the suffering of ordinary people as a subject of populist agitation policies to attack the government and shift the burden onto it," adding, "If the Democratic Party has even a minimum sense of conscience, it should first apologize for promoting nuclear phase-out and the subsequent electricity rate increases under the previous administration."

Han Moo-kyung, ruling party floor whip of the National Assembly’s Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee, also said at the meeting, "This is not just double talk but shameless remarks that call for livelihood stability in front but incite livelihood collapse behind," adding, "According to Democratic Party lawmaker Yang Yi-won-young, who opposed the KEPCO Act, Lee Jae-myung, who called for the withdrawal of the rate hikes, is essentially proposing to pass debt onto our children."

Han Mu-kyung, a member of the People Power Party's Regulatory Reform Promotion Team and the Subcommittee on Industry, Small and Medium Enterprises, attended and spoke at the "Regulatory Reform Promotion Team Industry and SME Subcommittee Current Issues Meeting" held at the National Assembly on the 18th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

Han continued, "The 'watermelon,' the extreme supporters of the Democratic Party, are not far away but right in front of you," and pointedly said, "Isn’t the watermelon with a different outside and inside none other than Lee Jae-myung himself?"