On the 28th, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik, one day before the end of his term, said, "It was truly the right thing to take the lead in lifting the illegal emergency martial law," but added, "It is really regrettable that the constitutional amendment did not come to pass," sharing his thoughts.
That morning at the National Assembly, Speaker Woo held a farewell press conference and stated accordingly, "In the latter half of the Assembly, a special committee on constitutional amendment must be formed, and I hope the media will play its part so we can see results."
During his two-year term, Speaker Woo led the passage of the resolution demanding the lifting of the Dec. 3 emergency martial law, the impeachment bill against former President Yoon, and the bills establishing the Serious Crime Investigation Agency and the Prosecution Office as part of prosecutorial reform. Recently, he also pushed to bring the constitutional amendment bill to a plenary vote.
Recalling the time of the Dec. 3 emergency martial law, Speaker Woo said, "At the time, I worried that 'we must finish before dawn. If the sun rises, people may resist and there could be bloodshed,'" and added, "Since the counterpart (former President Yoon Suk-yeol) was a former prosecutor, I had two thoughts: that if we did not strictly follow procedure, we would be in serious trouble."
Regarding the failure of the constitutional amendment, he said, "Right now, the National Assembly only has the authority to lift martial law, so if the president simply blocks the lifting, wouldn't martial law succeed?" He added, "We should convert (the martial law power) into an approval authority, and no matter the obstruction, have it automatically lifted after 48 hours to fundamentally block illegal martial law, but we couldn't achieve that, which is truly regrettable."
He also said, "We handled bills reflecting the urgent demands of the public, such as the special law on jeonse fraud, the yellow envelope law, a new labor law aimed at strengthening the bargaining rights of subcontract workers, the Franchise Business Act, and the Basic Act on Life Safety, as well as bills for the country's future competitiveness like the Commercial Act and the special semiconductor act," adding, "There were times of severe growing pains in the process, but while valuing bipartisan agreement, rather than just waiting, I mediated directly, and when that still didn't work, I made decisions."
Addressing questions over the speaker's neutrality raised in some quarters, he explained, "If, amid a climate where partisan conflict is routine, I had chosen only the easy path, there would have been no progress," and added, "Bipartisan agreement is important, but in a National Assembly like this, the role of the speaker is to read the public sentiment and find solutions."
To Rep. Cho Jeong-sik, his successor as the next speaker, Woo urged, "I hope you will devise even better ways to pass livelihood bills and be more capable than I was," and added, "I hope you will further expand the National Assembly's institutions and roles so that checks on the administration can be exercised properly, strengthening the separation of powers."
When asked about his future plans, he said, "I left the Democratic Party to serve as speaker, so I will be automatically reinstated. As a party member, I will do what is needed," adding, "During my term as speaker, I grew to love the National Assembly even more, and with that feeling, wherever I am, I will do my utmost for the people, democracy, and the socially vulnerable."