Jung Cheong-rae: The People Power Party should be dissolved after being judged by the public... "For semiconductor dividends, research should come first"

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\r\n[The Financial News] Jung Cheong-rae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, appealed to voters on the meaning of the June 3 Local Elections, saying they should judge the People Power Party for overcoming the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's martial law crisis and open an era of "people becoming wealthy" through cooperation between the central and local governments. He also dismissed recent controversy over Kim Yong-beom's claim that excess profits from a semiconductor boom should be distributed to the public, saying academic research must come first.
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At a press conference at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea on the 13th, Jung said, "The People Power Party is an anti-constitutional and anti-democratic force that defends insurrection, and I believe it will face a harsh judgment from public opinion in this June 3 Local Elections before it is even subjected to a ruling to dissolve an unconstitutional party."
He pointed to the party's nomination of local government heads and government officials elected under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, as well as its opposition to a constitutional amendment aimed at strengthening parliamentary checks on a presidential declaration of martial law. "The People Power Party is not even qualified to run in a local election," he said. "Through this election, we must firmly judge the insurrection forces and clear away even the dust of insurrection."
Jung also advised the People Power Party to focus on breaking with the Yoon Suk Yeol administration rather than obsessing over allegations of fabricated indictments by the Prosecution Service. The People Power Party launched its "Election Committee to Block the Withdrawal of Indictment" on the same day. It is aimed at the Democratic Party of Korea's Special Prosecutor Act on alleged fabricated indictments by the Prosecution Service, and it uses the slogan "Blocking the withdrawal of indictments against President Lee Jae-myung."
Jung said, "Wouldn't it be better to call it an 'Election Committee to Clear Away the Remnants of Insurrection'? Isn't it more important to break with insurrection and with Yoon Suk Yeol, and to shed the stigma of being an insurrection party?" He added, "The moment you mention fabricated indictments, people will only think of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's fabricated indictments. If you tell people not to think of an elephant, they will only think of the elephant."
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\r\nJung then said, "We launched an 'Election Committee for National Normalization' and said we should move toward the future. The People Power Party should also be saying what it wants to do," while referring to more than 200 pledges. He said the party would carry out all of its pledges even after the local elections. They include 22 so-called "quick and sticky" pledges, such as easing loan regulations for newlyweds, as well as pledges to support new industries such as AI and local-led growth under the Lee Jae-myung administration.
He also cited five major pledges announced that day, led by the designation of the Mega Special Zone. The Mega Special Zone plan would designate strategic industries in metropolitan or wider regional areas and provide full-scale support, including fiscal, financial and tax incentives, as well as industrial infrastructure development. Other pledges include the introduction of climate insurance, the Children's Independence Fund, Sunlight Income Village and expanded supported housing.
\r\nHowever, he drew a clear line on the idea, publicly raised on the 11th by Kim Yong-beom, of distributing excess corporate profits from the semiconductor boom to the public. Jung said there had been no discussion between the party and the government. "Rather than trying to do something immediately, academic research and scholarly review must come first," he said. "If the results lead to a proposal to apply it in practice, then we can gather opinions and pursue it as a policy and legal issue while building public consensus."
Initially, the Democratic Party of Korea had said it would review Kim's proposal. This was partly because lawmaker Moon Geum-joo had previously called for some of the semiconductor industry's profits to be returned to rural areas. But as the controversy intensified and Cheong Wa Dae distanced itself by saying it was a personal opinion, the party appears to have settled on the view that academic research should come first.
Meanwhile, Jung said he had no separate benchmark for victory or analysis of the race in this local election. "How many districts the Democratic Party of Korea will win is for the public to decide, and I and the party will simply do everything we can with a low, humble and earnest attitude," he said. "Commentators and the media talk a lot about the race, and I will take that as reference, but I have no such standard in my mind."
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uknow@fnnews.com Kim Yun-ho Reporter