Democratic Party slams Yoon administration for early missteps
The National Assembly’s official proceedings kicked off Wednesday, with the familiar sound of the two main parties accusing each other of failing the people.
South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party of Korea heavily criticized the Yoon Suk-yeol administration for its controversial personnel decisions while denouncing the government for abusing its power for political purposes.
Rep. Park Hong-keun, floor leader of the Democratic Party, said in a speech Wednesday that the Yoon administration must focus on serving the people instead of waging political revenge. His remarks came as a speech marking the opening of the second half of the 21st National Assembly.
“President Kim Dae-jung saw his early support rating reach 71 percent after winning with 40.3 percent in votes, but President Yoon Suk-yeol, who won the presidency with 48.6 percent of votes recently saw his rating hit 32 percent,” Park said.
“That means around a third of the people who cast their vote for candidate Yoon Suk-yeol in the presidential election have withdrawn their support. There are also forecasts the support rating will fall below 30 percent soon.”
Park denounced Yoon for failing to heed to the opinions of voters, saying his lack of regards to support ratings is a sign of his reckless attitude toward the presidency. He urged Yoon to care for essential needs of the people, saying the new administration has not shown much meaningful progress.
“For the two-month transition period after the presidential election, the people did not hear much about what the new government will do and how it will respond to the difficult economic situation,” the floor leader said.
“The only thing we remember is moving the presidential office to Yongsan, which was forced through with a will to not spend a single day in Cheong Wa Dae even though it could have been carefully reviewed and pursued.”
Park additionally criticized the Yoon administration for making controversial Cabinet picks, saying many of the nominees showed serious problems in their morality and personal backgrounds.
The president found himself in another personnel controversy last week after a sister of a far-right YouTuber staging abusive protests in front of former President Moon Jae-in’s residence was found to have worked in the presidential office.
Yoon’s second cousin was also found to have been working as a senior administrator equivalent to a post held by a grade three civil servant in the new presidential office. Many have said personnel problems are a major factor leading to decline of Yoon’s ratings.
“Corruption of the family, close relatives and aides of the president brings misfortune not only to the administration but also to the whole country,” Park added.
“During the Park Geun-hye administration, the orchestration of Choi Soon-sil that nullified the personnel system of Chong Wa Dae led to unprecedented impeachment of the president.” Read More…
