Ruling Party: "All-In on People's Livelihoods So the Fruits of Growth Are Shared Widely" ... Opposition: "Farmland Survey Is Escalating Conflict"

After the Chuseok holiday, the ruling and opposition parties identified "people's livelihoods" as the main dinner-table topic. The Democratic Party of Korea pledged to swiftly pursue legislative measures to ensure that the fruits of growth reach everyone, while the People Power Party urged the Lee Jae Myung government to acknowledge its failures and overhaul its policies. With the two parties sharply divided over solutions to livelihood issues, their war of nerves is expected to continue during next month's parliamentary audit.
■ Ruling Party: "It Is Painful to Hear That People Are Struggling to Make Ends Meet"
Kwon Chil-seung, policy committee chair of the Democratic Party of Korea, held a press briefing at the National Assembly on the 27th. "The heaviest message we heard during the Chuseok holiday was, once again, about people's livelihoods," he said. "Although the growth rates of exports and the economy have risen to levels comparable to Korea's economic heyday, it is deeply painful for the government and ruling party that the warmth has not spread evenly."
The Democratic Party of Korea adopted "a livelihood-focused National Assembly that goes all-in on people's livelihoods" as its guiding principle for the regular session. Kwon outlined six key policy priorities: reducing the burden of essential living costs, such as housing expenses; providing young people with opportunities to build assets; improving the soundness of capital markets; revitalizing neighborhood economies; pursuing diplomacy centered on the national interest; and strengthening national security. The party said it would accelerate measures including expanding the rent tax credit and supplying 1.19 million homes, while also pledging to protect the interests of domestic companies as investment in the United States gets underway in earnest.
"We will do our utmost to ensure that the fruits and benefits of growth spread evenly to those facing difficulties as soon as possible," Kwon added. "As the policy committee chairs of both parties have agreed to swiftly legislate common pledges in the area of people's livelihoods, we will move quickly on measures that can be addressed first."
The party also addressed political issues, including a dispute between Cheong Wa Dae and the Supreme Court of Korea over the appointment of Supreme Court justices and the failure of ministerial nominees Kim Seung-won and Yong Hye-in to secure appointments. Park Seong-jun, the party's chief spokesperson, said, "There were voices saying that Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae is walking the path of a politician rather than that of a legal professional." He added, "There was criticism that his backstabbing behavior is unbecoming of a chief justice and contrary to basic human decency." Park continued, "Many citizens expressed concern about the ministerial appointments and called for the political situation to be stabilized through swift appointments upon the president's return."
■ Opposition Assesses Lee Government as "On a Knife Edge"
Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, offered the opposite interpretation. At a press conference held the same day, Jang said, "If I had to sum up public sentiment during Chuseok in one phrase, it would be 'on a knife edge.'" He criticized the government, saying, "After seeing news of President Lee traveling to the United States, more than a few people said they wished he had not come at all."
He particularly lambasted the government's comprehensive farmland survey. Jang said, "They told me they had spent their entire lives farming and working hard, yet the president suddenly branded them as speculators, leaving them furious." He raised his voice, saying, "The government must immediately halt the comprehensive farmland survey and forced sales, and should first find measures to increase farm incomes and ways to foster young farmers."
He also criticized real estate policy, a vulnerability for the government and ruling party. Jang said, "We had been saving money little by little and living comfortably even in a jeonse rental, while dreaming of working a little harder to buy a home. But people say that in just a year and a half of the Lee Jae Myung administration, it has suddenly become a real estate hell." He added, "The peak moving season is approaching, and a jeonse and monthly-rental crisis is as clear as day. President Lee, please come to your senses."
He also targeted security issues that became controversial during the holiday, including an incident believed to involve a land mine in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and the repatriation of North Korean military prisoners. Regarding the delayed start of the on-site investigation in the DMZ, Jang said, "If President Lee deliberately delayed the on-site investigation, it would clearly constitute an act of aiding the enemy and a crime against the state involving a foreign power that falls outside the president's immunity from prosecution." He continued, "It is a crime for which he should not only be impeached but immediately arrested and put on trial." Regarding the disclosure through Ukraine of the confidential repatriation of North Korean military prisoners, he said, "They tried to hide something that did not even need to be hidden." He added, "If he remains solely focused on catering to Kim Jong Un, the people will remove the president from office. If he has no intention of standing up to Kim Jong Un to protect the country and its people, I urge him to step down from the presidency of his own accord even now."
[email protected] Lee Hae-ram and Kim Hyeong-gu Reporter