Opposition Jin Seong-jun "Proposes Party Policy Council to Government... US Trade and Diplomatic Response"

Jin Seongjun: "Trade and Diplomacy Should Be Discussed at the Party Policy Consultation Meeting"
"Support Measures for Export Companies Should Also Be Addressed"

The Democratic Party of Korea proposed that the government hold a party policy consultation meeting with the National Assembly to respond to the tariff policies of the U.S. Trump administration.

Yonhap News

At the Democratic Party's floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido on the 8th, Jin Seong-jun, chairman of the Policy Committee, stated, "We should establish a special committee on trade measures in the National Assembly and jointly engage in diplomatic efforts toward the U.S. with the government," adding, "To this end, we officially propose to the government to hold a party policy consultation meeting in accordance with the law."

Chairman Jin said, "Let's prioritize discussing trade response issues and the implementation of supplementary budgets at the party policy consultation meeting," and added, "We should discuss trade diplomacy strategies to persuade the U.S. and ways for the National Assembly and government to take comprehensive action." He also proposed discussing support measures for export companies, self-employed workers, and small business owners.

He explained, "The Prime Minister's directive on the operation of party-government consultation tasks stipulates that when there is no ruling party, a party policy consultation meeting is held between the executive branch and each party for policy consultation and coordination," and added, "This consultation meeting is convened by the Prime Minister and attended by floor leaders and policy committee chairpersons of each party."

The reason for this proposal is that the domestic and international economies are shaken by the Trump administration's tariff policies, but the Korean government currently faces limitations in response due to the acting presidential system. Chairman Jin said, "We must persuade the U.S. government through comprehensive trade diplomacy," and emphasized, "As Korea has a free trade agreement with the U.S., the U.S. government should clearly recognize that there are effectively no tariffs imposed on Korea."

He also stated, "We need to convince them that during Trump's first term, Korea's trade surplus with the U.S. was effectively all returned through local investment in the U.S.," adding, "At that time, Korea's average annual trade surplus with the U.S. was $14.95 billion, while local investment in the U.S. was $14.38 billion." He reiterated, "Given our current situation where normal diplomacy is not possible, at least the National Assembly must take the lead."

Meanwhile, Chairman Jin said that the K-UAM (Urban Air Mobility) industry, which was selected as a national agenda by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, is sluggish, and stated, "The Democratic Party will review the commercialization schedule of K-UAM and prepare support measures for early commercialization."