Opposition Leader Blasts Uri Party

Grand National Party Chairman Kang Jae-sup criticized the ruling Uri Party on November 8, saying, “It is unacceptable that the Uri Party, which enjoyed all the benefits of political power, refuses to be accountable. It should come forward to take responsibilities as the ruling party.”

The remarks came during his representative speech as the leader of the floor negotiation group of the National Assembly. He also said, “The greatest political reform would be an administration change,” when he mentioned the Uri Party’s recent attempt for political restructuring.

He argued, “Reunification with North Korea would be impossible as long as the nuclear threat exists” and suggested a group called, “Public Consultation for a Denuclearized Korean Peninsula” to discuss North Korea’s nuclear issues with people from political arena and all other fields.

He said, “Discussion on the transfer of wartime operational control is invalid. The Grand National Party’s campaign pledge for the next presidential election will include the next administration’s renegotiation with the U.S. to cancel the decision of the military command transfer.”

With regard to soaring housing prices, he argued, “It is a dismal failure of the real estate policy, which depended heavily on regulations and violent taxes. President Roh must make an apology. We should hold Cheong Wa Dae and government authorities accountable for the failure.”

He also said, “We have to repeal laws with anti-business traits. We can’t expect regulation reform from public officials who wrote those regulations. We should move the Regulatory Reform Committee, which currently is under the control of the Prime Minister’s Office, to operate under the National Assembly and establish an ad hoc committee for public sector reform under the National Assembly.”

He added, “We will revise the private school law, which infringes on the freedom of private schools and the newspaper law, found unconstitutional by the Constitution Court and virtually scrapped, in the upcoming regular session.”

jkmas@donga.com