PPP floor leader calls on Democratic Party to cede judiciary committee chairmanship

Jeong Jeom-sik, the newly elected floor leader of the People Power Party, called on the Democratic Party of Korea on Thursday to hand over the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee to the PPP as the second-largest party in the National Assembly.

Speaking at his first supreme council meeting since taking the floor leader post, Jeong said the move would be "the first step toward heeding the public sentiment expressed in the June 3 local elections."

He said the Democratic Party should formally abandon its stated plan to monopolize all 18 standing committee chairmanships and restore the "checks and balances" convention — under which the largest party holds the speakership and the second-largest party chairs the judiciary committee.

Jeong also directed sharp words at President Lee Jae-myung, calling on him to "officially declare that he will give up seeking the withdrawal of charges" against himself. He said President Lee must immediately abandon any attempt to have his own indictment dropped, calling such a move contrary to law and common sense.

Turning to the unprecedented ballot shortage that marred the local elections, Jeong said it was inconceivable that the National Election Commission claimed not to know where ballot storage boxes had gone. "This was an absolutely impermissible violation of citizens' right to vote," he said.

He urged that a PPP-led parliamentary investigation be conducted to get to the bottom of the matter, with the opposition party chairing the panel and ruling and opposition parties holding equal numbers of seats. He also called on the government and the ruling party to drop what he described as the "trick" of a joint investigative body and instead accept a special prosecutor.

Meanwhile, Jeong addressed the deepening internal dispute over whether party leader Jang Dong-hyeok should be held responsible for the PPP's defeat in the local elections. "This is a critical moment," he said. "We must all unite — for the party, for the country, for the people. We have no room to think about factions, and no room to think about division."