Jo Eung-cheon "21st National Assembly is shabby... Trying not to offend hardline supporters"

Democratic Party Rep. Cho Eung-cheon KBS Radio Interview
"Lee Sang-min's Possibility of Leaving Party Decreases"

Democratic Party lawmaker Cho Eung-cheon clarified his remark that "nomination is just nomination," saying, "I meant that the party must innovate for Korean politics to move forward even half a step."

On the 27th, Cho appeared on the special KBS 1 Radio program "Today" and said, "To sum up the 21st National Assembly in one word, it is meanness," adding, "It is a structure where lawmakers cannot properly fulfill their roles."

Cho Eung-cheon (from left), Kim Jong-min, and Lee Won-wook, members of the Democratic Party of Korea, are announcing a statement related to the election system before the start of the seminar titled "Principles and Common Sense, Listening to Experts" held at the National Assembly on the 26th. Photo by Yonhap News

He continued, "Still, we have always been concerned that Korean politics should move toward the development of the Republic of Korea and the welfare of the people."

Cho explained, "Both major parties need to change, but if one party changes drastically while the other does not, the other party will inevitably follow. Therefore, I have always thought that our Democratic Party, which we belong to, should change first. People who shared this belief have been advocating for our party to follow principles and common sense by establishing them."

Cho pointed out, "If the internal situation of the 20th and 21st National Assembly is like this, reform movements should have occurred several times. The main actors of reform movements were mostly first-term lawmakers, but looking at the 20th and especially the 21st Assembly, the lower the seniority and the younger the age, the more conservative their thinking seems to be, or they seem to pursue maintaining the status quo."

He added, "And it seems they try not to fall out of favor with the hardline supporters. So, before we know it, they are becoming career politicians or livelihood-type lawmakers, which is regrettable."

Regarding Lee Sang-min of the Democratic Party leaving the party, Cho said, "Until recently, I thought the possibility of him joining the People Power Party was quite high, but now it has somewhat decreased," adding, "The problem with the People Power Party is the vertical party-government relationship, and even Chairman In Yo-han, who acknowledged this, cannot say anything about it. Despite being stigmatized as the Yeouido branch office of Yongsan, they just continue as is. I think this is something that bothers Representative Lee Sang-min a lot."