Ruling party urges swift action on livelihood bills; opposition targets security, industry policy

The Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party clashed Thursday over livelihood and economic issues. The Democratic Party urged the People Power Party to cooperate in swiftly passing pending livelihood bills in the National Assembly, while the People Power Party trained its fire on the government over security and semiconductor policy.

Han Byung-do, the Democratic Party's acting leader and floor leader, said at a policy coordination meeting at the National Assembly on Thursday that the party would convene a plenary session as soon as possible to complete legislation on livelihood and state affairs "without a moment's hesitation."

Han said the People Power Party was pushing for a plenary session on Aug. 20, citing the need to first negotiate on politically contentious bills. "I cannot help but ask what reason there is to sit on livelihood bills for another week," he said.

He also said the rehabilitation of Homeplus was "not simply a matter of a company's survival, but a livelihood issue involving the survival of workers, suppliers and local economies." He urged MBK Partners and Meritz to go beyond injecting emergency funds and take responsibility to the end for employment stability, recovery of damages to partner companies and the full normalization of Homeplus.

"The government must also step up actively on product supply and support for partner companies," Han said. He added that the Democratic Party would visit Homeplus stores Thursday to launch a shopping campaign, saying the party would help bring customers back to the retailer.

The People Power Party put the government's security and industrial policies under scrutiny. Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok said at a supreme council meeting Thursday that if Chinese election interference and espionage activities were confirmed, the government should lodge a strong protest and work through international cooperation to develop countermeasures. "Make it clear whether the Lee Jae Myung administration is on China's side or on the side of the Korean people," he said.

Jang said Chinese espionage cases were continuing to surface, yet those involved could not be immediately prosecuted under espionage statutes. He attributed this to an amendment to the criminal code on espionage charges passing the National Assembly only in February this year.

People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik criticized what he described as core national industrial policy moving in lockstep with the party leadership election schedule of Democratic Party leader candidate Kim Min-seok. "Semiconductors — a core strategic national asset — have been handed over as a political asset for candidate Kim Min-seok," he said.

Jeong said President Lee Jae Myung was "handing out semiconductors as gifts" while Kim Min-seok would offer the dropping of criminal charges in return. He said the administration's governing philosophy amounted to a "blitzkrieg to erase the president's crimes," the hasty pursuit of industrial policy that twists the arms of businesses, and the destruction of the rule of law by abandoning public safety.