"We Will Overcome the Crisis Together with Representative Lee Jae-myung"
Park Chan-dae, the newly appointed floor leader of the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, who is responsible for the party's leadership in the National Assembly, expressed his intention to launch a "major offensive" against the government and the ruling party under the leadership of the opposition rather than pursuing bipartisan cooperation.
Park Chan-dae, the newly appointed floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is delivering an acceptance speech after being elected as the floor leader at the elected members' general meeting held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 3rd. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@
After concluding the elected members' general meeting at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 3rd, Park met with reporters and said, "The public sentiment from this general election is to give the first opposition party a majority of seats as an overwhelming majority party. It means to operate the National Assembly responsibly." He added, "In the 21st National Assembly, bipartisan cooperation did not yield results." He continued, "Cooperation is a beautiful thing, but if the legislature cannot produce proper results and fails to give the people a sense of efficacy, it is right to operate the National Assembly in a way that produces results."
Park stated his position to reintroduce bills vetoed by President Yoon Suk-yeol in the 22nd National Assembly. President Yoon exercised his veto power on several bills passed in the 21st National Assembly, including the three broadcasting laws (Broadcasting Act, Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Agency Act, Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act), the Grain Management Act amendment, the Nurse Act amendment, the Yellow Envelope Act (amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Labor Relations Adjustment Act), the special prosecution law on allegations of stock manipulation involving First Lady Kim Keon-hee, and the special law on the Itaewon disaster. Park said, "We need to proceed with priorities, but we are considering reintroducing all nine bills vetoed by President Yoon," and criticized, "If the special prosecution law for Corporal Chae is also vetoed, it would be a direct contradiction to the public sentiment shown in this general election."
He also emphasized that the Democratic Party intends to secure the chairmanships of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the National Assembly Steering Committee. Traditionally, the chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee has been allocated to the second-largest party, and the chair of the Steering Committee to the ruling party. Park stated, "There is no change in our position to secure the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the Steering Committee for the operation of the National Assembly."
Meanwhile, Park appointed Representative Park Sung-jun and Representative Kim Yong-min as the Chief Deputy Floor Leader for Operations and the Chief Deputy Floor Leader for Policy, respectively. Since both representatives are classified as pro-Lee Jae-myung (pro-Lee Jae-myung faction), it is evaluated that the party system centered on Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party leader, has been solidified. Park said, "The fact that I was supported as a sole candidate seems to mean that we are united under the banner of Leader Lee to overcome the difficult political situation and put brakes on the prosecutorial dictatorship regime," adding, "I believe the remaining four months of Leader Lee's term are the most important, and I will overcome the crisis together with him."
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