Park Kwang-on "Cannot Pass Government Budget Proposal as Is"
Emergency 2-Day General Assembly on Fukushima Contaminated Water on 31st
On the 31st, a day before the September regular session of the National Assembly, the Democratic Party of Korea demanded that the government submit next year's budget proposal to the National Assembly with a 6% increase in total expenditure. They also announced plans for extra-parliamentary struggles to block the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, focusing all efforts on offensive measures against the ruling party.
Park Kwang-on, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, stated at the policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly that morning, "The Democratic Party cannot pass the government's proposed budget for next year as it is," and urged, "The government should resubmit the budget to the National Assembly with a total expenditure increase of more than 6%."
Park Kwang-on, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly on the 31st. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@
Park criticized strongly, saying, "The budget proposal submitted by the government for next year is defined as the '5-give-up budget,' giving up on the people, livelihood, growth, peace, and the future," and called it a "people-abandoning budget that shifts the pain of low-growth economic recession onto the public."
He emphasized, "The Democratic Party will pass a people-centered budget that protects the lives of the people with the 'three major goals' of domestic demand recovery, investment recovery, and growth recovery."
Along with this, they also announced plans for extra-parliamentary struggles related to blocking the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.
The day before, the Democratic Party held a rally condemning the dumping of contaminated water in Jeonnam, a stronghold of the party. On the evening of the same day, they will hold an emergency general meeting related to the Fukushima contaminated water discharge for one night and two days at the Rotunda Hall of the National Assembly main building to discuss response strategies. Starting from the 1st of next month, the party's Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Contaminated Water Marine Dumping Prevention General Countermeasures Committee will stage a sit-in at the National Assembly, and on the weekend of the 2nd, the party plans to participate in the second nationwide rally condemning the Yoon Seok-yeol government.
Park said, "In 1993, when Russia dumped 900 tons of radioactive waste off the coast of Vladivostok, Japan protested vehemently at the Russian Embassy in Japan, saying they were forced to eat radioactive sushi, and the Japanese government took a strong stance," and explained, "At the London Convention held in November, the Japanese government advocated expanding the ban on marine dumping from high-level radioactive materials to low-level radioactive materials, and eventually, the London Protocol banned all radioactive waste marine dumping as Japan intended."
He then questioned, "The Japanese government that did that is now dumping nuclear-contaminated water into the sea. Was Japan in 1993 wrong and Japan in 2023 right?"
He also criticized the Yoon Seok-yeol government, saying, "We must block Japan's Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water marine dumping with the attitude and logic Japan had in 1993," and added, "The London Convention is a strong international agreement to prevent marine dumping of nuclear-contaminated water. If the government and the People Power Party continue to ignore effective alternatives and maintain their stance on Fukushima contaminated water against national interests, it is a betrayal of the people."
On the same day, the four opposition parties?the Democratic Party, the Justice Party, the Basic Income Party, and the Progressive Party?along with civil society and religious groups, submitted a second national petition opposing Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant contaminated water marine dumping to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council and held a press conference.
In their statement, they pointed out, "Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has become a major criminal who has ruined the sea, the place of life, into a nuclear waste disposal site, and the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, which condones and abets the dumping of contaminated water, cannot escape responsibility."
They continued, "Following the submission of a petition letter to the UN Human Rights Council on the 17th, today we submit the second national petition with over 478,000 signatures," and emphasized, "Our goal is one: to stop Japan's nuclear contaminated water marine dumping even now."
They stated, "We can no longer tolerate destructive marine dumping that has neither justification nor benefit," and urged, "We ask for the overwhelming public opinion and effective measures from the international community, including the UN Human Rights Council, to unite efforts so that the Japanese government abandons nuclear contaminated water dumping."
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