[Full Text] Song Unseok's Negotiation Group Speech: "Lee Jaemyung and the Democratic Party Must Put Down the Hammer"

Song Unseok, floor leader of the People Power Party, is delivering a speech as the representative of the negotiation group at the plenary session held at the National Assembly on September 10, 2025. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

Song Unseok, floor leader of the People Power Party, stated during the negotiation group representative speech at the National Assembly on the 10th, "The past 100 days can be summed up as 'Honyongmudo,' meaning a foolish ruler has thrown the world into chaos." He criticized, "Amid the runaway of the ruling party, all we see are crackdowns on the opposition using political special prosecutors and acts of political retaliation."

Floor Leader Song added, "While calling for cooperation on the surface, the government is in fact obsessed with destroying the opposition. This two-faced and hypocritical governance must stop." He called on President Lee Jaemyung and Democratic Party leader Jung Cheongrae to "put down the hammer in your hands."

He also commented on next year's government budget proposal, calling it "a fiscal atrocity that plunders future generations who will have to pay off the national debt." He proposed, "Let us introduce a 'zero-base budget system' that reassesses all government fiscal projects from scratch, and establish a 'Special Committee on Fiscal Reform' involving both the ruling and opposition parties as well as the government."

However, regarding the tripartite people's livelihood consultative body agreed upon at the meeting between President Lee Jaemyung and the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties on the 8th, he said, "What remains is implementation, and the People Power Party is ready for cooperation." He emphasized, "The choice is up to the ruling party."

Below is the full text of Floor Leader Song's negotiation group representative speech

Song Unseok, floor leader of the People Power Party, is delivering a speech as the representative of the negotiation group at the plenary session held at the National Assembly on September 10, 2025. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

Let us end these 100 days of Honyongmudo and move forward to upright politics for the people

Respected citizens,

Speaker Woo Wonsik and fellow lawmakers,

Prime Minister Kim Minseok and Cabinet members,

I am Song Unseok, floor leader of the People Power Party, from Gimcheon City, North Gyeongsang Province.

It has been 100 days since the Lee Jaemyung administration was inaugurated. In short, the past 100 days have been 'Honyongmudo,' a time when a foolish ruler threw the world into chaos.

Politics has been reduced to nothing but the ruling party's reckless destruction of cooperation, crackdowns on the opposition using political special prosecutors, and acts of political retaliation. The economy and people's livelihoods are collapsing due to all sorts of anti-business, anti-market policies that block investment and take away jobs. Our security is being dismantled by a humiliating and delusional low-profile North Korea policy. Cabinet appointments have been a disaster of abuse of power, plagiarism, speculation, and vulgar remarks, while the Liberation Day pardons for shameless criminals were a betrayal of national unity and a sign of corruption in power.

Witnessing these 100 days of regression and backward governance, hearing the growing lament and resentment of the people, I am all the more regretful for the People Power Party's mistake of handing state power to an arrogant and dangerous political force.

However, we will not sit in despair. From our position as the opposition, we promise to strongly criticize and correct the tyranny of the Lee Jaemyung administration and to firmly protect the people's livelihoods and the economy.

■ Stop the runaway of one-party dictatorship.

Respected citizens, what do our people want most from the National Assembly?

It is to care for people's livelihoods and prepare for a better tomorrow. They want politics of consideration, respect, dialogue, compromise, and mutual prosperity. But what does our National Assembly look like now?

It is filled only with the unilateral runaway of the ruling party, which uses its majority to dominate the legislature. Of the 25 personnel hearings held, the ruling party refused to submit documents or accept witness and reference requests, rendering the hearings a mere formality.

Key legislative bills such as the Yellow Envelope Act, the Commercial Act, and the Broadcasting Act, which have a significant impact on the national economy and future, were also railroaded through unilaterally. The ruling party seized key standing committee chair positions that should have gone to the second-largest party, refused to appoint opposition floor leaders, and even rejected opposition-nominated national committee members.

The ruling party leader frequently threatens and insults the opposition with talk of "dissolution," engaging in anti-intellectual verbal violence. They are trying to destroy the opposition and build a one-party dictatorship by labeling us with their signature "rebellious party" frame. This is the shameful self-portrait of the past 100 days.

Let me offer a sincere warning. Power is like sand in your hand. The tighter you grip it, the faster it slips away. The moment you become intoxicated by the sweetness of power, your fall begins without brakes. Why, after only 100 days in office, are you stepping on the accelerator toward the cliff of self-destruction?

Stop the runaway of one-party dictatorship. End the politics of agitation and threats that only fuel endless strife. Return to politics based on common sense and solutions for the people. That is the only way to save the country and the administration.

■ We will fight against crackdowns on the opposition and political retaliation.

Respected citizens,

The three major political special prosecutors unilaterally created and passed by the Democratic Party have become tools of political retaliation, and the crackdown on the opposition is endless. The Democratic Party even set up a "Special Committee on Special Prosecutor Response" within the party to openly direct the special prosecutor's investigation.

Four days ago, President Lee Jaemyung ordered the Gwambongkwon band incident to be handed over to the special prosecutor, which is blatant interference in the investigation. The special prosecutor is responding with indiscriminate and excessive investigations. Without clear evidence, they continue to conduct sweeping searches and seizures of People Power Party lawmakers' offices, local offices, and homes.

During the party convention, they raided the central party headquarters to seize the membership list of 5 million party members containing account numbers. They even stormed the floor leader's office in the main National Assembly building, and seized the mobile phones, PCs, laptops, cars, and travel bags of party staff. Some of our lawmakers have even been summoned as suspects.

This is political violence and an attempt to destroy party democracy that only happens in dictatorships. To make matters worse, the Democratic Party has proposed an even stronger amendment to the special prosecutor law. They have also called for investigations into People Power Party-affiliated metropolitan mayors, including the Mayor of Seoul. Some searches and seizures have already taken place.

This is clearly political retaliation and manipulation. The People Power Party can never agree to the unilateral expansion of special prosecutors. We will resolutely fight against legislative tyranny that tramples the opposition and political retaliation that destroys democracy.

But even the special prosecutor is not enough-they now want to establish a "Special Court for Rebellion." Unlike the past "Special Court for Anti-National Activities" or "Special Court for the March 15 Election Fraud," this has no constitutional basis and is clearly unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has also clearly opposed it for this reason.

In the end, they want to control the investigation, the trial, and the verdict themselves. How is this different from a people's court? Meanwhile, all five trials involving President Lee Jaemyung have been suspended. This is not politics for the people, but rule for the sake of covering up the president's legal risks and maintaining power. Is this the democracy you constantly claim to uphold?

If so, throw off the mask of hypocrisy called "democracy" and rename your party the "One-Man Dictatorship Party." The People Power Party will use every means to stop these atrocities that destroy the rule of law and democracy. We make it clear that all responsibility for the resulting national confusion and disaster lies entirely with the Lee Jaemyung administration.

Undermining the independence of the judiciary and shaking the constitutional system of separation of powers at its root will bring down the nation. We strongly urge the immediate cessation of these dangerous attempts to dismantle the state.

■ The four prosecution dismantling bills must be stopped.

Respected citizens,

The "four prosecution dismantling bills" being rushed by the government and ruling party are wrong. We need a new solution. The government and ruling party are trying to abolish all investigative powers of the prosecution and even prohibit supplementary investigations into cases referred by the police.

Let me ask on behalf of the people: Why give both investigative and prosecutorial powers to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and special prosecutors created by the Democratic Party, but strip the prosecution of its investigative powers?

If supplementary investigations by the prosecution are abolished, who will control and supplement police investigations when they are flawed? Ultimately, all the harm will fall on the people.

Dismantling the prosecution is not a simple administrative reform. It is a major change to the criminal justice system of the Republic of Korea, which has been maintained for 76 years since the enactment of the Prosecution Act in 1949.

How can such a major legislative change be rushed through without bipartisan agreement, social deliberation, or public consent? Look at the results of the hasty passage of the "Complete Deprivation of Prosecution's Investigative Powers" law at the end of the Moon Jaein administration. The ability to investigate crimes affecting people's livelihoods has plummeted, and the time for investigations and trials has become endlessly delayed.

In the end, only the people have suffered. What matters now is not speed, but direction.

Therefore, I once again propose to the Democratic Party: Let us establish a "Special Committee on Judicial Reform" in the National Assembly to discuss prosecution reform. The People Power Party also agrees on the need for prosecution reform. We believe prosecution reform should prioritize protection of the socially disadvantaged. We have already outlined the direction and key policies for reform.

We propose that the ruling and opposition parties work together in the special committee for responsible discussions on prosecution reform.

■ A debt-ridden budget will lead to fiscal collapse.

Respected citizens,

Speaker Woo Wonsik and fellow lawmakers,

Prime Minister Kim Minseok and Cabinet members,

On the 29th of last month, the government announced next year's national budget proposal.

This is a debt-ridden budget that has destroyed the bulwark of fiscal soundness. The total expenditure is 728 trillion won, an increase of 55 trillion won from this year. As a result, national debt will soar by 142 trillion won in just one year, reaching 1,415 trillion won, or 51.6% of GDP.

During the Moon Jaein administration, the 40% threshold for the national debt ratio was broken, opening the era of 1,000 trillion won in national debt, dubbed the "Cheonjo-guk era." The Lee Jaemyung administration now aims to reach 1,800 trillion won in national debt by the end of its term. As a result, the burden of interest payments on government bonds to be repaid will skyrocket to 36.4 trillion won next year alone.

This is a reckless and irresponsible fiscal runaway that could lead to fiscal collapse. It is the second season of the Moon Jaein administration's disastrous "income-led growth"-now "debt-led growth."

This is a fiscal atrocity that plunders future generations who will have to pay off the national debt. The government tries to justify the debt-ridden budget by saying, "We are borrowing seeds to farm," but in reality, it is filled with populism that spends the borrowed seeds just to get by for a day.

35.8 trillion won is allocated for expanding child allowances, a presidential campaign pledge; 11.5 trillion won for the basic income project for rural and fishing villages; and 24 trillion won for local currency gift certificates-large amounts of cash-based budget for local elections. Last year, the Democratic Party cut all special activity funds for the presidential office, police, prosecution, and the Board of Audit and Inspection, but this year they quietly restored them. Meanwhile, they refuse to disclose the special activity funds for the three special prosecutors they themselves established.

Isn't this a shameless double standard? To make matters worse, just a few days ago, the government projected that the national debt ratio would soar to 156% of GDP in 40 years. The gates of fiscal hell are opening for our country.

The People Power Party cannot tolerate this fiscal runaway that is burying Korea in debt. We will thoroughly weed out unnecessary populist spending through the National Assembly's budget review. Enacting a "Fiscal Soundness Act" is essential to prevent reckless spending and fiscal collapse.

In addition, as of this year's main budget, mandatory spending required by law accounts for 54.2% of total expenditure. This is about a 10 percentage point increase compared to 46.3% ten years ago.

This severely limits bold investments in cutting-edge technologies such as AI, robotics, and quantum computing. Now is the time to restructure the budget in line with new environmental changes and fiscal demands.

We must review everything from scratch. I propose introducing a "zero-base budget system" that reassesses all government fiscal projects from the ground up. To this end, let us establish a "Special Committee on Fiscal Reform" in the National Assembly involving both ruling and opposition parties as well as the government. I ask for the active support of all lawmakers.

■ The economy is dying due to anti-business laws.

Respected citizens,

If, as the government claims, national finances are to serve as a catalyst for economic recovery, what is most important for a bountiful harvest from borrowed seeds? It is private sector innovation and investment. It is businesses that drive economic growth and turn seeds into abundant crops.

However, the government and ruling party are pouring out all kinds of anti-business policies. They are turning the groundwater that should receive the catalyst into wastewater. They are turning the fields where seeds should grow into wastelands.

The Democratic Party ignored the opposition's objections and the desperate pleas of the domestic and international business communities, and railroaded through the "Yellow Envelope Act" (amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union Act) and the "Stronger Commercial Act" (second amendment to the Commercial Act). The Yellow Envelope Act blocks companies from claiming damages for illegal strikes and allows hundreds or thousands of subcontractor unions to negotiate directly with the parent company. Even management decisions such as overseas investment are now subject to labor disputes.

The government's claim that this "meets advanced country standards" is a distortion of the facts. There is not a single advanced country that unilaterally sides with unions to the extent of tolerating illegal strikes in the workplace.

Even before the law has been implemented, the negative effects are already appearing. The union of Hyundai Steel's subcontractors under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, unions at seven Naver subsidiaries, and power plant unions have begun collective actions against their parent companies. The unions of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Mipo have started strikes in protest of entering the US shipbuilding market. The MASGA project, which the government boasted about, has been hampered by the Yellow Envelope Act even before it began.

Once the law is fully implemented, chaos in the workplace is inevitable. The Stronger Commercial Act forces the separate election of audit committee members and cumulative voting, threatening corporate management rights and paralyzing management. Instead of protecting domestic investors, it will only feed the greed of foreign speculative capital.

On top of this, the government and ruling party are also pushing a third amendment to the Commercial Act to mandate the cancellation of treasury shares. With few defenses in place, our companies will be left vulnerable to foreign capital and hostile takeovers.

The Yellow Envelope Act and the Stronger Commercial Act are essentially "guillotine laws" telling companies not to do business in Korea. They kill investment, take away jobs from young people, and drive companies overseas-self-destructive economic policies.

President Lee Jaemyung has repeatedly said, "When companies do well, the country does well," but in reality, it was nothing but sweet talk to deceive the people.

The People Power Party will begin follow-up legislation to minimize damage to businesses and citizens. The direction will be responsibility, autonomy, and a balance between labor and management.

The Yellow Envelope Act needs clearer definitions of the scope of employers and the concept and scope of labor disputes. Like other advanced countries, we must prohibit union occupation of key workplaces and allow substitute labor during strikes to strengthen companies' right to defend themselves. We have already proposed the "Fair Labor-Management Act" containing these provisions.

The Commercial Act amendment should codify the "business judgment rule" and revise the crime of breach of trust, which is severely restricting business activities, to reflect reality. As in major advanced countries, we should introduce options such as poison pills and dual-class shares to support the defense of management rights.

In line with global trends, inheritance and corporate taxes should be further lowered to ease the excessive tax burden on the middle class and companies. Our party has already proposed a bill to ease the capital gains tax threshold for major shareholders from 5 billion won to 10 billion won to revitalize the stock market.

If the Democratic Party, which bears unlimited responsibility for state affairs, cares even a little about the national economy, I urge you to actively support follow-up and supplementary measures.

■ Stop the takeover of broadcasting.

Respected citizens,

Last month, the Democratic Party railroaded through amendments to the Broadcasting Act, so-called "permanent broadcasting control laws." Now, not only public broadcasters but also private broadcasters such as YTN and Yonhap News TV are in the hands of the Democratic Party and the KCTU-affiliated media union.

Turning public broadcasters into government mouthpieces is unimaginable in a normal democracy. On top of this, they are introducing punitive damages to suppress critical reporting by the media.

The media, which should be the salt that preserves democracy, has been turned into sugar for the regime.

However, the Lee Jaemyung administration should remember: History teaches that when checks and criticism are destroyed, arrogant power collapses with them.

The "Ddangjeon News" of the 1980s was the spearhead of the Fifth Republic, but it became the starting point of the collapse of the dictatorship. Remember this fact.

The owner of public broadcasting is not the regime, but the people. The recently amended three broadcasting control laws must be repealed. Instead, I propose forming a bipartisan "Special Committee on Public Broadcasting Legislation" to start broadcasting reform discussions from scratch.

■ Establish a proper personnel verification system.

Respected citizens,

Dasan Jeong Yakyong cited three virtues that a public official must have: self-discipline, dedication to the public, and love for the people. The most important of these is self-discipline. But what about personnel appointments under the Lee Jaemyung administration? They are filled with people who cannot even discipline themselves.

The reasons for disqualification are diverse: abuse of power, plagiarism, vulgar remarks, flattery, conspiracy theorists, drunk driving, conflicts of interest, real estate speculation, holding assets under borrowed names, split purchases, repeated fines and tax delinquencies, and more. It is like looking at an encyclopedia of unqualified individuals.

If the appointment of Choi Gyojin, the "worst personnel disaster," is forced through, the president, prime minister, and ministers will together form a government with a total of 22 criminal convictions. If only their books and social media had been reviewed, the nominations of Lee Jinsook, Choi Gyojin, and Choi Dongsuk as head of the Ministry of Personnel Management would never have happened.

Has the personnel verification system completely collapsed? Or does it not exist at all? It is incomprehensible that even basic vetting is not being done.

As a result, rumors persist that the "three-member Seongnam clique is monopolizing personnel appointments behind closed doors." I demand an immediate end to this secretive, inner-circle personnel system and the establishment of a proper public personnel verification system.

Stop the forced replacement of public institution heads immediately. The Moon Jaein administration appointed as many as 59 new institution heads with only six months left in its term.

Most of them were guaranteed their terms even after the inauguration of the Yoon Sukyeol administration. Please, practice politics with conscience and common sense. The people are simply stunned by your hypocrisy and greed.

■ Thoroughly prepare for follow-up negotiations after the Korea-US summit.

Respected citizens,

Speaker Woo Wonsik and fellow lawmakers,

Prime Minister Kim Minseok and Cabinet members,

The Korea-US summit held on the 28th of last month was an empty-handed meeting with nothing gained. As a result of this summit, Korea promised $500 billion (about 700 trillion won) in investments in the United States.

$500 billion is an enormous amount, accounting for 26.7% of Korea's GDP. Japan's $550 billion investment in the US is 13.1% of its GDP, and the EU's $1.35 trillion is 6.9% of its GDP. Even by comparison, this is an extremely excessive and unequal burden.

But after giving such a huge package of gifts, what did we receive in return? When will auto tariffs be reduced to 15%? Did we really block the opening of the market for rice, beef, and other agricultural products? Was the creation of a $350 billion investment package discussed? Why was there no announcement about the modernization of the Korea-US alliance, including the realignment of US Forces Korea? The people are frustrated.

A few days ago, more than 300 Korean workers at a factory in Georgia, USA, were dragged away in handcuffs and chains. This is an unprecedented diplomatic disaster. Is this all we have to show for the summit we boasted about? This is not the time for self-congratulatory praise.

We urge you to thoroughly prepare for follow-up negotiations after the summit to protect the national interest. Together with the people, we will closely monitor future negotiations. The People Power Party will also actively cooperate to protect the national interest as much as possible.

■ Assertive and effective North Korea policy is needed.

National security must be based on cold reality. The moment ideological illusions, romantic feelings, or the desire to use it for domestic political gain intervene, it ends in failure.

Past one-sided North Korea aid policies under the Kim Daejung, Roh Moo-hyun, and Moon Jaein administrations resulted in the advancement of nuclear missiles, and empty slogans of peace led to armed provocations.

President Moon Jaein even acted as Kim Jongun's spokesperson in the international community, claiming "North Korea is firmly committed to denuclearization" just by hearing a word from Kim Jongun. But what was the result?

The inter-Korean liaison office was blown up, there were missile provocations, and dialogue was cut off. Now, the Lee Jaemyung administration is repeating this disastrous path.

What is serious is that we are unilaterally disarming ourselves while pursuing one-sided affection.

We have banned sending leaflets to North Korea, stopped loudspeaker broadcasts and dismantled facilities, reduced joint Korea-US military exercises, made the North Korean human rights report non-public, and even stopped North Korea broadcasts by the National Intelligence Service that had been running for 50 years.

We have abandoned all these measures that should be used as bargaining chips in negotiations with North Korea, trying to appease the regime, but all we have received in return are ridicule and contempt such as "empty pipe dreams" and "filthy tribe."

Nevertheless, President Lee Jaemyung has even declared the restoration of the September 19 Military Agreement, effectively dismantling our own security.

If President Lee Jaemyung's recently announced "three-stage denuclearization theory" is based on recognizing North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons, it is an extremely dangerous idea that would bring seismic changes to security on the Korean Peninsula.

To the Lee Jaemyung administration: "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity," as Einstein said.

Do not repeat the mistakes of the Moon Jaein administration. Abandon the humiliating, low-profile stance that throws away national dignity and pride. Wake up from the illusion of a peace show for regime achievements. What is needed now is assertive and substantial deterrence against North Korea. As a first step, I propose strengthening Korea-US joint military exercises. I also propose actively pursuing the revision of the Korea-US nuclear agreement to acquire effective countermeasures against North Korea's nuclear weapons.

■ We must care for people's livelihoods through dialogue and compromise.

Respected citizens,

Speaker Woo Wonsik and fellow lawmakers,

Prime Minister Kim Minseok and Cabinet members,

This year marks the 80th anniversary of liberation. It is also the 60th anniversary of the normalization of Korea-Japan diplomatic relations.

Our country, which started from the ruins of colonial rule and war, now stands shoulder to shoulder with advanced nations. It is a proud history of achievement.

Look at the Korean Wave, which is rewriting the history of world culture.

As seen in the recent success of "K-Pop Demon Hunters," K-pop, K-dramas, K-movies, and K-food are spreading across the globe, bringing great joy and fresh inspiration to people worldwide. We are standing at the center of the world with the "power of high culture" longed for by Kim Gu.

But what about our politics now? It is being harshly criticized as the biggest obstacle to national development. Are you not ashamed?

It is time for our politics to turn toward advancement. Let us return to the essence of politics: making the people comfortable and prosperous. Let us recall the spirit of the scholar-officials who practiced self-cultivation and social responsibility. Let us build clean, honest, and upright politics.

To President Lee Jaemyung and the Democratic Party, I urge you: Put down the hammer in your hands.

Stop the two-faced and hypocritical governance that calls for cooperation on the surface while focusing on destroying the opposition.

The national power entrusted to you is not for the regime, but for the people.

Use your overwhelming power to solve urgent national challenges.

How will you restore the growth rate, expected to be just 0.9% this year? How will you overcome the world's fastest declining birthrate and aging population? How will you reform the pension system that threatens young people and future generations? How will you address the disappearance of local communities, which threatens regional survival every moment? How will you resolve labor market polarization? How will you foster the middle class, the backbone of society? These are all essential tasks for national development, but none of them are easy.

Even if the Democratic Party regains its proper role as the ruling party and the National Assembly functions normally, these are daunting challenges.

Isn't it the politics the people want for the ruling and opposition parties to debate, consult, and come up with solutions to these issues all night long?

Fortunately, two days ago, the president and the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties agreed to form a "tripartite people's livelihood consultative body."

Now, what remains is implementation. The People Power Party is ready for cooperation. We have policy alternatives. The choice is up to the ruling party.

Respected citizens, the People Power Party will start anew with renewed determination. We will correct the anti-democratic, anti-economic, and anti-unification governance of the Lee Jaemyung administration. We will firmly respond to the tyranny of one-party dictatorship that destroys the opposition. We will prioritize people's livelihoods ahead of the ruling party and transform ourselves into a competent policy party. We will continue to reflect and strive to meet your expectations. Please continue to watch over us, encourage us, and guide us. Thank you.