Jeong Cheong-rae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 9th that "settling the rebellion is our spirit of the age" and expressed his intention to promptly handle the amendment to the three special prosecutor laws. He urged the People Power Party to "offer a sincere apology."
◇"Rebellion" mentioned 26 times…"start with fact-finding and punishment of those responsible"
Jeong delivered the parliamentary negotiation-group leaders' speech for the September regular session at the National Assembly that morning. It was the first negotiation-group leaders' speech by the ruling party leader under the Lee Jae-myung administration, and because President Lee Jae-myung and the leaders of the parties had met the day before and opened the door to dialogue, attention was focused on what message Jeong would deliver.
Jeong devoted nearly half of his speech to "settling the rebellion." He said that the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol was "the people holding a president who violated the constitution accountable," and added, "Thanks to the ban on a dictator's power to dissolve the National Assembly, we were ultimately able to overcome the night of rebellion."
He emphasized that "settling the rebellion is not political revenge but a call to wipe out the evils committed by privatizing power, exploiting the division, and acting behind the mask of justice," and that "it is not a matter of progressives versus conservatives but a call to cleanse the corruption that ignored the lives of the people."
He went on to say that "settling the rebellion is breaking with the past that haunts us" and "settling the rebellion is the spirit of our age for those living today."
Jeong said that "a complete settling of the rebellion will be an opportunity for conservatives to restore true conservatism and be reborn morally," and that "it is time for the ruling and opposition parties, conservatives and progressives, to jointly resolve the long-standing task of settling historical issues."
Jeong said specific measures include promptly passing amendments to the three special prosecutor laws to begin a thorough fact-finding and punishment of those responsible for the rebellion. He also mentioned revising the Military Service Act to protect soldiers who resisted illegal orders, amending the Independence Hall of Korea Act, and enacting the Law on Honoring Democratic Patriots.
Jeong urged the People Power Party, saying, "If you cannot break ties with the rebellious forces, you may become a subject for a constitutional party dissolution trial," and stressed, "cut ties with the rebellion and offer a sincere apology to the people."
He reiterated the three major reforms, including prosecution reform. Jeong said, "The three major reforms are about restoring abnormal things to their proper place and fixing them to fit the times," and added, "By eliminating absolute monopolies, law enforcement agencies can free themselves from absolute corruption." He also noted that public opinion is high regarding the establishment of a trial division exclusively for rebellion cases, which the opposition strongly opposes.
The word "rebellion" appeared 26 times in Jeong's speech that day. Although the opposition asked for a slowdown in the pace of amendments to the three special prosecutor laws and prosecution reform at the meeting between the president and party leaders the day before, Jeong's speech maintained a hardline tone. There was no content in the speech about dialogue or cooperation with the opposition.
◇Strengthen protection for victims of jeonse fraud and foster advanced industries
Jeong pledged to restore livelihoods and overcome the economic crisis. He said the party will actively pursue amendments to the Commercial Building Lease Protection Act to prevent illegal rent hikes, amend the Banking Act to prevent banks from calculating excessive additional charge rates, and revise the Franchise Business Act to strengthen the negotiating power of franchisees.
He particularly emphasized the issue of jeonse fraud. Jeong said, "The number of victims of jeonse fraud has already exceeded 30,000, and young people are concentrated among the victims," and added, "We will strengthen the Jeonse Fraud Victim Protection Act to expand public rental housing support for victims and add jeonse safe-contract consulting services to the support center's duties." He also said he would pursue the establishment of a jeonse fraud bad bank to provide relief for victims.
He said the Democratic Party would concentrate its efforts on the Lee Jae-myung administration's growth policy represented by "ABCDEF." A stands for fostering advanced industries centered on artificial intelligence, B for promoting the bio industry, C for supporting cultural content industries, D for strengthening defense and expanding the defense industry, E for developing eco-friendly energy industries, and F for modernizing and reviving manufacturing.