Chairman Kim Jin-pyo Meets Hwang Woo-yeo: "People Power Party Must Be Able to Say NO to the President"

"Government and Ruling Party Becoming Direct Subordinates of the President Will Halt Politics"

Hwang Woo-yeo, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, paid a courtesy visit to National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo on the 20th. Speaker Kim emphasized the role of the ruling party to Chairman Hwang.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Meeting Chairman Hwang at the National Assembly, Speaker Kim said, "The main opposition party also has many problems," but added, "The ruling party leading the current government is somewhat lacking in its role. If the reason the government is not being led properly is the president, then the president should also be able to say no when necessary."

Speaker Kim emphasized, "The result of the last election was ultimately because no one said no to the president. Then the ruling party loses its meaning," and added, "If the government and the ruling party as a whole become a single subordinate organization directly under the president, politics cannot be conducted." He continued, "From the perspective of the people, the ruling party has not been visible in the past three years," and added, "So now, I think Chairman Hwang, who smiles every morning, will make the ruling party more visible."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Chairman Hwang and Speaker Kim have a history of working together as floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties in 2011. Hwang served as the floor leader of the ruling majority party, the Grand National Party (the predecessor of the People Power Party), while Kim was the floor leader of the minority opposition party, the Democratic United Party (the predecessor of the Democratic Party of Korea). During their meeting, the two reminisced about the times they worked together to pass legislation as floor leaders.

Chairman Hwang said, "I remember a lot from those days, and when I asked (Speaker Kim), he almost 100% agreed," adding, "At that time, our floor leader said, 'The number of seats is just a number,' so we tried to fulfill that intention by any means, and as a result, we were able to accomplish a lot."

After a private meeting with Speaker Kim, Chairman Hwang told reporters, "At that time, the party to which our Representative Kim belonged did not have many seats," and said, "We had over 190 seats, but we never pushed through legislation forcibly; when Kim became the leader, we supported him." This remark is interpreted as a criticism of the majority Democratic Party of Korea unilaterally passing various contentious bills and special prosecutor laws.