Kweon Seong-dong, the floor leader of the People Power Party, noted on the 19th that if the Democratic Party shows its intention to reach an agreement on the reform of the National Pension through press conferences and other means, he would push for the launch of a special committee on pension reform without the contentious phrase 'processing by agreement.'
During a press briefing held at the National Assembly that afternoon, Kweon said, "If the Democratic Party clearly demonstrates its willingness to agree on the structural reform, our party is willing to launch the special committee on pension reform without that sentence." He added, "I hope we can reach an agreement today and speed up the pension reform." He remarked, "If they express their intention to process it through a press conference, that is a declaration of intent."
He further directed his remarks to the opposition party, asking, "Why are you trying to omit the phrase 'The special committee on pension reform will be processed by agreement of the ruling and opposition parties'? What is the reason for wanting to remove a phrase that was present during the past pension special committee? I wonder if the insistence on not agreeing on structural reform is a pretext for unilateral processing or if it’s an intention to block pension reform for the youth."
He repeatedly requested, "Representative Lee Jae-myung (Democratic Party) suggested processing the structural reform of the National Pension in the plenary session on the 20th. I hope you will not just talk but will put it into action."
The ruling and opposition parties tentatively agreed on the structural reform of the National Pension with an insurance premium rate of 13% and a replacement rate of 43%. However, they have been at odds over whether to insert the phrase 'processing by agreement' in the launch of the National Assembly special committee on pensions. The opposition party believes that since the chairperson of the pension special committee will be a member of the People Power Party, it will automatically be processed by agreement, hence seeing the insertion of the phrase as unnecessary.
On the other hand, the ruling party insisted that the phrase 'processing by agreement' should be included, as it has been in every composition of the special committee. However, on this day, Kweon noted that the intention to process by agreement can be sufficiently expressed through press conferences and does not need to be included, indicating a slight retreat from their previous stance.
Regarding the Seoul City’s decision to reassign the three districts of Gangnam (Gangnam, Seocho, and Songpa) as land transaction permission zones (land permission system) after about a month, it was assessed that the previous measure was inappropriate. There are criticisms that the back-and-forth administration of Seoul City has increased confusion in the market.
Kweon remarked, "Not only in the three districts of Gangnam but also in the Mapo, Yongsan, and Seongdong districts, house prices are rising steeply. The decision today by Seoul City to reassign the land permission system was appropriate, and I think deeper research and consideration were needed when we revoked it last time."