PPP Slams Han Byungdo’s Speech as “Self-Congratulation Ignoring People’s Livelihoods”

On the 3rd, Kwak Gyutaek, senior spokesperson for the People Power Party’s parliamentary group, criticized the negotiating bloc’s representative speech by Han Byungdo, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, calling it “an escapist self-congratulatory speech that turned a blind eye to the cries coming from people’s livelihoods on the ground, and one that was solely preoccupied with defending the sandcastle of the Lee Jaemyung administration.”

Han Byungdo, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is delivering the representative speech on state affairs for the party's parliamentary negotiation bloc at the second plenary session of the 432nd National Assembly (extraordinary session) held at the National Assembly on Feb. 3, 2026. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

In a commentary released the same day, Spokesperson Kwak stated, “The People Power Party is always ready to walk any path together if it is for the sake of people’s livelihoods, but the people will never forget who it was that drove our politics into a swamp of conflict and division, anger and distrust.”

Spokesperson Kwak added, “Floor Leader Han talked about ushering in the era of KOSPI 5000 and spun rosy illusions, but he turned away from the fact that the real economy people actually feel is in a devastating state,” and continued, “Right now, in the Republic of Korea, under the waves of high exchange rates and high inflation, the era of 1 million business closures a year has become a reality, and for self-employed workers and small business owners, simply holding on through the day has become synonymous with survival. Yet the Democratic Party of Korea keeps repeating ‘livelihood coupons and local currency’ while brazenly covering up the economic mismanagement of the Lee Jaemyung administration.”

Regarding foreign affairs and trade, Spokesperson Kwak also said, “Diplomacy without results and failures in trade are tightening the economic lifeline of the Republic of Korea even further,” and pointed out, “The recent official remark by President Trump that he would restore automobile tariffs to 25% is a disaster brought about by negligence, in which political strife has been put first-such as delaying the passage of the Special Act on Investment in the United States-while livelihood-related bills have been pushed to the back burner.”

Spokesperson Kwak went on to say, “What is most lamentable is that, although they invoke ‘people’s livelihoods’ every time they open their mouths, in reality they are mired in a ‘special-prosecutor panacea’ mindset and have not taken even a single step out of the swamp of political strife in the National Assembly,” adding, “Livelihoods are not sentences in a speech; they are the lives of the people enduring today. The Democratic Party of Korea must not forget that it is time to respond not with more words, but with responsibility.”