Jang Dong-hyeok: Address must say what the public wants to hear
Jeong Jeom-sik criticizes real estate policy, warns of jeonse and monthly rent crisis
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok called on President Lee Jae Myung on Monday to apologize for what Jang described as "tyranny against people's livelihoods" before delivering a policy address to the National Assembly. Speaking at a PPP supreme council meeting at the Assembly, Jang said Lee must "say what the public wants to hear, not what he wants to say," and demanded that Lee "first apologize for the real estate hell, the Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix ETF share price collapse, and the farmland survey — these acts of tyranny against people's livelihoods — and pledge a policy reversal."
Jang also said Lee must "demonstrate the firm defense resolve of the commander in chief in the face of North Korea's landmine provocations, nuclear threats and missile launches," and added that Lee must "provide answers to public concerns over the breakdown of the South Korea-US alliance."
Jang further demanded that Lee "halt the destruction of the judiciary — the impeachment of the chief justice and the fabricated-indictment special prosecutor bill — and declare that he will stand trial with confidence." Jang warned that "if he once again does nothing but sing his own praises and treats the public like fools, the policy address will become a declaration of the regime's end."
On the government's 821 trillion won budget proposal, Jang said the administration was "only scheming to throw money around by banking on a semiconductor boom," adding that having "already run Gyeonggi Province into the ground, it now intends to do the same to the entire country on a grander scale." Jang announced the PPP would unveil its own budget proposal Tuesday.
Regarding the Democratic Party's push for a parliamentary investigation into Chief Justice Jo Hee-dae, Jang cited Democratic Party lawmaker Choi Min-hee's remark that "before the court personnel reshuffle in February next year is the last line of defense," calling the move "nothing more than a buildup toward impeachment" and "a confession that blocking the resumption of Lee Jae Myung's trial is ultimately the final goal."
Jang predicted that "a parliamentary investigation will yield nothing surprising — it will become a Season 2 of the salmon liquor party, only reconfirming Lee Jae Myung's crimes." Jang added that "no grounds for impeaching the chief justice will emerge, but grounds for impeaching Lee Jae Myung will come pouring out," and forecast that "the impeachment of the chief justice will become the fuse that ignites the impeachment of the president."
PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik also criticized the government's real estate policy, saying the Greater Seoul area is "in the midst of a jeonse and monthly rent crisis." Jeong said the Oct. 15 real estate measures — which tightened the owner-occupancy requirement and strengthened regulations on jeonse loans — had caused home sales to freeze and the jeonse market to dry up.
Jeong went on to say that "all demand is concentrating into monthly rent, sending monthly rent prices soaring, and this is spreading from Seoul to Gyeonggi Province through a balloon effect," and said "young people just starting out in society and newlyweds are left with no idea where or how to find a place to live."
mp1256@heraldcorp.com
