Hwang Unha: "Did the Democratic Party refuse the negotiation group request? We never made such a request"

"Jokukdang, Which Won 12 Seats, Must Become a Negotiation Group"

Hwang Unha, floor leader of the Joguk Innovation Party, stated, "We have never made any demands to the Democratic Party of Korea regarding the formation of a floor negotiation group." This was a rebuttal to media reports claiming that the Joguk Innovation Party, which holds 12 seats, requested a relaxation of the floor negotiation group requirement (20 seats) from the Democratic Party of Korea but was effectively rejected.

On the 26th, during SBS Radio's 'Kim Taehyun's Political Show,' Floor Leader Hwang explained, "The issue of the negotiation group was first brought up by the Democratic Party as a campaign pledge during the election process," adding, "We have never made any demands to the Democratic Party regarding the negotiation group, nor have we ever considered it an urgent priority or expressed it as such."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Nevertheless, he emphasized that the Joguk Innovation Party should qualify as a floor negotiation group to represent the public sentiment from the general election. Floor Leader Hwang stated, "In this general election, the Joguk Innovation Party received about 25% of the vote, which is one out of every four votes," and argued, "There should be no doubt that it is desirable for the Joguk Innovation Party to become a negotiation group to faithfully represent the will of the electorate."

He continued, "To form a negotiation group, there are two methods: either lowering the requirements for the negotiation group or securing an additional 8 seats to the Joguk Innovation Party's 12 seats to form a joint negotiation group. Among these, amending the National Assembly Act absolutely requires the cooperation of the Democratic Party, which holds an overwhelming majority of seats," adding, "However, we have never demanded that the Democratic Party quickly pass the amendment to the National Assembly Act."

He further claimed, "According to global standards, no advanced foreign country has negotiation group requirements as strict as ours," and stated, "No country has a requirement exceeding 5% of the total number of National Assembly members."

Regarding the background of proposing a pan-opposition joint meeting to the Democratic Party, he said, "Although the Democratic Party holds an overwhelming 171 seats, there are seven floor parties within the pan-opposition," and explained, "If all voices within the opposition are heard, the remarks of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, during the summit meeting could carry much more weight." Floor Leader Hwang interpreted, "The Democratic Party did not reveal that the meeting between Leader Lee and Joguk Innovation Party Leader Cho Kuk the previous day was related to the pan-opposition joint meeting," but added, "Regardless of whether the format of a pan-opposition joint meeting was used, the fact that Leader Lee and Leader Cho met and talked for two hours itself is meaningful."