The Democratic Party submits disciplinary proposal for the Chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee... Reviewing the 'Jeong Cheong-rae Prevention Act'

Park Joon-tae "Criticism that Woo Chairman is the Mother of the Democratic Party"

The People Power Party filed a complaint against Jeong Cheong-rae, Chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, to the National Assembly Ethics Special Committee. This was due to Chairman Jeong openly insulting and intimidating witnesses, including ordering a witness to leave during the 'Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor Act Legislative Hearing' on the 21st. The People Power Party is also considering proposing the 'Jeong Cheong-rae Prevention Act' to prevent similar incidents from recurring.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 26th, Park Joon-tae, the floor spokesperson for the People Power Party, explained the reason for submitting the disciplinary proposal to reporters, saying, "Members of the National Assembly must refrain from making insulting remarks against others while performing their duties, according to Article 146 of the National Assembly Act." He added, "As the chairman representing the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the chairman must operate meetings with a high sense of ethics befitting the position." He further stated, "Chairman Jeong ordered witnesses such as Lee Si-won, former Presidential Secretary for Public Discipline, and Lee Jong-seop, former Minister of National Defense, to leave the hearing despite there being no legal provision for such an order, openly insulting the witnesses. He also pressured Im Seong-geun, former commander of the 1st Marine Division, to submit his resignation with insulting language. Although witnesses have the right to refuse to take an oath and testify, he intimidated them by saying that refusal to take the oath could lead to punishment."

Regarding the People Power Party's consideration of filing a complaint against Chairman Jeong for violating the offense of refusal to leave, Park said, "If it was a specific protest by Representative Yoo Sang-beom, who was appointed as the ruling party's floor leader, during the parliamentary proceedings, that is a normal parliamentary process." He added, "It is an absurd and contradictory claim to define appropriate measures as disorderly conduct. If they are confident, they should go ahead and file a complaint."

When asked whether they are discussing the Jeong Cheong-rae Prevention Act, he said, "Yes. To fundamentally block the barbaric and destructive parliamentary operation style like that of Chairman Jeong, we will review a direction where the ruling and opposition parties agree to set the parliamentary schedule and establish penalty provisions for insulting behavior within the National Assembly."

Park also criticized Speaker Woo Won-shik for a lack of mediation. He said, "During the process of negotiating the formation of the National Assembly, we requested mediation from Speaker Woo several times." He added, "We asked him to put a stop to the one-sided operation of the assembly, but he never accepted our party's position or proposed any mediation plan." He continued, "There was a remark about a father from the Democratic Party, but in the public, there is even a self-deprecating criticism that Speaker Woo is playing the role of the Democratic Party's mother."

On that day, 20 out of 108 ruling party members signed the disciplinary proposal against the chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee submitted by the People Power Party. The People Power Party explained that they did not place much significance on the number and that it was to file the proposal within the day.