Democratic Party Rejects Ruling and Opposition Meeting... "Cannot Acknowledge Kwon Seong-dong"

Regarding Kwon Seong-dong as the new People Power Party floor leader
No Jong-myeon: "The ruling party made a decision against the people's will"
Democratic Party: "We do not recognize the floor leader... We will not negotiate"

The Democratic Party of Korea has effectively refused to meet with the ruling and opposition floor leaders. This decision came from the judgment that it is impossible to resolve the situation through dialogue or negotiation with Kwon Seong-dong, the newly elected floor leader of the People Power Party.

No Jong-myeon, the floor spokesperson, told reporters at the National Assembly on the afternoon of the 12th, "Within the ruling party, this decision is evaluated as directly going against the will of the people," adding, "As a result, we cannot recognize Floor Leader Kwon as a negotiation partner." He continued, "Floor Leader Kwon pushed forward his stance opposing impeachment despite the party leader saying 'a change in the party’s position is necessary,'" and expressed concern that "the pro-Yoon faction might be executing actions to seize party power."

Speaker Woo Won-shik is sitting down after having a loud, seemingly angry conversation with Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and No Jong-myeon, floor spokesperson, who climbed onto the speaker's podium during the National Assembly plenary session on the afternoon of the 12th. Photo by Yonhap News

Regarding questions about a 'ruling-opposition meeting,' Floor Spokesperson No drew a clear line, saying, "It will not be successful." In response, Speaker Woo Won-shik reportedly reprimanded Floor Leader Park Chan-dae and Floor Spokesperson No during the plenary session of the National Assembly that day, saying something to the effect of, "I have told you many times, so why is this happening?" The Democratic Party’s floor leadership maintains its position that they cannot meet with the ruling party floor leader concerning the impeachment motion even after discussions with Speaker Woo.

Within the Democratic Party, there is strong 'veto (refusal)' against Floor Leader Kwon. A Democratic Party lawmaker stated, "We see Floor Leader Kwon as an accomplice in a rebellion, so there will be no negotiations or anything like that going forward," adding, "Since the possibility of Floor Leader Kwon supporting the impeachment motion is 0%, meeting with him is just a waste of time." The Democratic Party also mentioned in an official press release that "we do not recognize Representative Kwon Seong-dong as the floor leader of the People Power Party, so negotiation is impossible," which is the party’s stance.

Floor Spokesperson No also stated that the Democratic Party cannot negotiate with Floor Leader Kwon regarding the ruling-opposition-government (ruling party-opposition party-government) economic review consultative body that the Democratic Party is promoting. He asserted, "Because we do not recognize Floor Leader Kwon, all systems related to him cannot be activated." However, regarding this, Chief Spokesperson Jo Seung-rae explained, "We have not yet confirmed Floor Spokesperson No’s message," and emphasized that "the consultative body must be activated."