Democratic Party floor leader has harsh words for Park administration

Posted on : 2013-10-09 13:24 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Jun Byung-hun blasts Pres. Park’s broken promises and high-handed approach to governing
 Oct. 8.
Oct. 8.

By Cho Hye-jeong, staff reporter

The Democratic Party’s floor leader unleashed a blistering attack on the administration of President Park Geun-hye on Oct. 8.

Jun Byung-hun, who leads the party in the National Assembly, said the administration “is already surpassing the Lee Myung-bak administration in trampling on democracy, public welfare, and inter-Korean peace and trust when it should be upholding the Constitution.”

“People are saying we’ve gone back to the military dictatorships of Roh Tae-woo and Chun Doo-hwan, and all the way back to the Yushin days,” he continued, referring to the government in the 1970s under Park’s father Park Chung-hee.

Jun went on to criticize Park for retreating on her election campaign pledge to give a basic pension to everyone older than 65, suggesting that a “basic pension citizen’s committee” be set up in the National Assembly to deal with the issue.

The remarks came during a speech for representatives of negotiating groups at the National Assembly plenary session.

“People were led to expect an ‘era of citizen happiness,’ but instead they’re facing an era of crippled political functioning. Our President is drunk with power and refuses to communicate with anyone,” Jun said, taking aim at what critics have called Park’s high-handed approach to governing.

Jun also demanded measures for what he called the “eight most worrying signs” of the administration, including a loss of democracy and failures in personnel appointments, and the “eight deceptions,” including her retreats on election pledges for economic democratization and the basic pension.

He was especially scathing on the issue of the basic pension pledge.

“You could raise another 10 trillion won (US$9.3 billion) a year, more than 50 trillion won altogether, by rolling back the tax cuts on the rich and putting the corporate tax back where it was,” Jun said. “If the administration decided to show that it is willing to work to honor its welfare pledges, the Democratic Party is prepared to engage in responsible discussions.”

Jun also suggested forming a “citizens’ committee on the basic pension” in the National Assembly, with participants from the private sector and government, to develop a social consensus on the issue and pass legislation by the end of the year.

Another proposal he made was for what he called a “Korean Peninsula Freikauf,” organizing reunions for all 70,000 divided family members, abductees, and POWS in North Korea in exchange for assistance to the country.

The Saenuri Party (NFP) denounced Jun’s speech as “pamphleteering,” with the party’s regular and floor spokespeople coming out in force to attack it.

Speaking at a morning briefing, floor spokesman Kim Tae-heum said the speech was “simply shocking. You could hardly believe it was a representative’s speech from a political party, let alone sit there and listen to it.”

“It felt like I was seeing movement propaganda, and it was filled with movement pamphleteering that promoted antagonism, distortion, and division,” he continued.

Saenuri floor spokesman, Hong Ji-man, blasted the speech in an afternoon briefing.

“Floor leader Jun’s speech truly is the sort of thing that gets in the way of communication and trust and stirs up anxiety in the public,” he said. “It was a securities street pamphleteer’s speech, without a shred of dignity in it.”

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