PPP floor leader condemns ruling party over bid to let Jeong Dong-young dismissal motion lapse

Song Eon-seok, floor leader of the People Power Party, on April 28 criticized National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik and the Democratic Party over a recommendation to dismiss Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young that was reported to the plenary session.

In a Facebook post, Song said that because April’s extraordinary session was holding its final plenary meeting that day, the motion was expected to be discarded without a vote, calling it a “procedural trick.”

Citing the National Assembly Act, Song said a minister dismissal recommendation is discarded if it is not put to a vote within 72 hours after 24 hours have passed from the time it is reported. He said the PPP had strongly demanded that a plenary session be held on April 27 to report the motion and that it be voted on at the April 28 session.

“What is a 60-seat ruling party afraid of that it cannot even vote on it?” Song wrote, adding that the party could simply vote it down rather than let it lapse.

Song also argued that even if the motion were to pass, it has no binding force and President Lee Jae-myung could refuse to dismiss Jeong. He said it was hard to understand why the Democratic Party would still avoid a vote, and claimed that the presidential office’s national security chief had officially acknowledged that Jeong’s remarks were one factor contributing to friction between South Korea and the United States.

Song said the National Assembly should hold Cabinet members accountable when they harm the national interest, and he condemned Woo and the Democratic Party for blocking a vote. He added that while they would not accept a vote on a motion proposed by a minority opposition party, they were pressing ahead with what he called a rushed, election-driven constitutional revision opposed by the minority opposition.