President Yoon Seok-yeol greets former Justice Minister Park Beom-gye following delivering a corrective speech on the supplementary budget (additional budget) proposal for compensation for COVID-19 losses at the National Assembly plenary session on the 16th. [사진=연합뉴스]
◆This time, instead of freedom, he asked for cooperation with the ‘economy’…
As at the inauguration ceremony of the previous president six days ago, President Yoon, wearing a blue tie, said, “The seriousness of the crisis and challenge we are facing requires more than ever more strong bipartisan cooperation that transcends camps and factions.” “I will discuss closely with parliamentary leaders and lawmakers on major issues of state affairs,” he promised.
‘Freedom’, mentioned 35 times in his inaugural address, appeared only once in the context of “I have the belief that true liberal democracy is parliamentarism.” When President Yoon explained, “Parliamentaryism is that the parliament is the center of state affairs,” the opposition and opposition parties responded with applause.
President Yoon also asked for the expeditious handling of the 59.4 trillion won additional supplementary budget (additional budget) to compensate for the damage caused by COVID-19. President Yoon emphasized, “It is the natural duty of a state governed by law to compensate for losses (in the course of quarantine).”
Although President Yoon reached out to the government with his cooperation, it is unclear whether the twisted political situation will be resolved because of difficulties in various places, including the supplementary budget, approval of Prime Minister Han Deok-soo by the National Assembly, and negotiations for the formation of the original structure in the second half of the 21st National Assembly.
◆Han Deok-soo’s approval request … Growing old man’s dilemma
At a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Center on the followingnoon of the same day, Ko Yong-jin, head of the public affairs department of the Democratic Party’s Central Election Countermeasures Committee, said, “I agree with President Yoon’s remarks regarding ‘bipartisan cooperation to overcome the crisis’. We look forward to cooperation with you on additional projects.”
“If President Yoon truly pursues cooperation, he should first express his regret for selecting inappropriate people for the Cabinet and Secretariat,” he said. In particular, he demanded that “the obstacles to the cooperation between the ruling and opposition parties should be removed by resigning the minister candidates who are trying to force the appointment without the consent of the National Assembly.”
Although he did not mention a specific person, it is interpreted that it was aimed at Prime Minister candidate Han Duk-soo, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, Ministry of Health and Welfare Jeong Ho-young, Minister of Gender Equality and Family Kim Hyun-sook, and secretary of the presidential office Yoon Jae-soon, who has a history of sexual abuse disciplinary action.
Political circles observe that if President Yoon withdraws the Democratic Party’s ‘zero-ranked horse’ nomination for candidate Jeong Ho-young and expresses his regret, the Democratic Party will be able to cooperate with candidate Han Deok-soo, who has relatively few reasons for disqualification. Candidate Dong-Hoon Han, who is the ‘first-ranked horse’, is evaluated that the ‘connection between Han Deok-soo and Han Dong-hoon’ has become difficult as the Democratic Party has caused controversy rather than a ‘decisive shot’ at the personnel hearing.
President Yoon also asked the Democratic Party to approve a prime minister candidate during a meeting with the leaders of the opposition and opposition parties before the municipal administration speech. According to the attendees, President Yoon said, “After being elected, I didn’t choose one candidate (as the new government’s first prime minister candidate), but I thought of only one person (Han Deok-soo) before that. “I thought I was going to be prime minister,” he said.
The Democrats did not respond. However, within the party, there is a growing trend that the party should forwardly respond to the confirmation of a candidate. There is also a high concern that the frame of ‘catch the opposition’s ankle’ may lead to a headwind ahead of the June 1 local elections.
Meanwhile, President Yoon presided over a meeting of the chief secretary in the form of a free discussion for regarding two hours in the followingnoon. President Yoon urged his aides to “see the whole country as if you were the president yourself, be conscious of the problem and give a lot of good opinions on countermeasures.”
In the meantime, he directed △preparation for the expeditious execution of the supplementary budget, △efforts to stabilize prices and financial markets, △preparation to attract all-out efforts of the 2030 Busan Expo, and △ thorough preparation for the Korea-US summit.
- reporter information
- Seonghwi Lee
- [email protected]
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