Jung Jeom-sik Declares No Willingness to Negotiate with Opposition Party

Jung Jeom-sik, the floor leader of the People Power Party, announced on June 28 that he has no intention of meeting separately with the ruling party's leadership regarding the composition of the National Assembly unless the Democratic Party presents a new proposal.

In a post on his Facebook page, Jung stated, "There will no longer be meetings for the sake of meetings or negotiations for the sake of negotiations."

He criticized the Democratic Party for insisting on processing the parliamentary composition by the end of June without proper communication, saying, "It seems they believe the National Assembly Speaker, who is naturally from their party, should be approached with courtesy, yet they only declare their intentions for processing by June." He expressed concern that Speaker Kim Jong-sik is likely to yield to the ruling party's demands based on past behavior.

Jung emphasized, "The People Power Party has no intention of begging or pleading with the ruling party for a few more committee chair positions. Go ahead and do as you please."

He accused the Democratic Party of relying on threats rather than negotiations, stating, "There have been no proposals regarding the composition, only pressure to submit lists of committee members." He added, "I have no intention of engaging in discussions that lack basic respect for negotiation partners."

Jung questioned whether the Democratic Party longs for the arrogance and unilateralism of the Moon Jae-in administration, which monopolized all 18 committees in 2020. He concluded by stating, "Do not expect any cooperation from the opposition party. While we wanted to do our best to cooperate for the sake of the people and the country, do not expect any collaboration in a one-party-dominated National Assembly that shows complete disregard for the opposition."