"Don't Just Talk About Pension Reform, Put It Into Action"
Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, on the 19th criticized Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, for calling Ma Eun-hyuk, nominee for Constitutional Court justice, and Choi Sang-mok, acting president and deputy prime minister for economic affairs, "to be careful" by calling it "illegal terror incitement."
At a press conference held at the National Assembly on the same day, Floor Leader Kwon said, "I momentarily mistook whether such remarks could come from the leader of a major opposition party or if they were words spoken by terrorists like IS (Islamic State, an extremist terrorist organization)," and criticized, "Lee himself is a flagrante delicto of the crime of intimidation."
At the Supreme Council meeting on the same day, Lee warned Acting President Choi, saying, "Even the president can be punished if he destroys the constitutional order, even while in office. Anyone in the nation can arrest Acting President Choi as a flagrante delicto," and added, "I hope he will be careful."
Floor Leader Kwon said, "It is very concerning whether Lee Jae-myung, who repeatedly incites verbal terror, will accept the Constitutional Court's impeachment trial results and his own trial results," and added, "I hope Lee will immediately stop the threats and declare acceptance of the Constitutional Court's trial results."
When asked if he planned to take legal action against Lee's remarks, he replied, "If he continues to talk about arrests and expresses intent to harm Acting President Choi, we will consider legal action."
Regarding the Democratic Party's intention to pressure the appointment of nominee Ma, he speculated, "It is an act of forcing the appointment and inciting terror in preparation for not obtaining the desired information from the Constitutional Court." He also stated, "There are various rumors about the Constitutional Court's trial results, but what we hope for is dismissal of the impeachment."
He also criticized Lee regarding pension reform. Floor Leader Kwon said, "Lee said to handle the fundamental reform of the National Pension on the 20th," and urged, "I hope he will not just talk but put it into practice." He continued, "If the Democratic Party clearly has the will to handle structural reform by agreement, our party is willing to launch a special pension committee even without the phrase 'bipartisan agreement'," and added, "I hope we reach an agreement today and accelerate pension reform."
Regarding the government's and Seoul city's expansion of all apartments in the three Gangnam districts (Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa) and Yongsan district in Seoul as land transaction permission zones on the same day, he said, "It was an appropriate measure for Seoul city to re-designate the land transaction permission zone due to the recent sharp rise in housing prices in the three Gangnam districts and Mayongseong (Mapo, Yongsan, Seongdong)," but added, "I think more in-depth research and review were needed when Seoul city lifted the land transaction permission zone last time."
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