Jeong Jeom-sik: "What We Must Honor on Constitution Day Is the Spirit of Consensus, Not Just the Shell"

People Power Party Floor Leader Jeong Jeom-sik stated on the 78th Constitution Day, "What we must honor today is not the shell of Constitution Day, but the spirit of the Constitution Day, which is 'debate and consensus'."

On his social media today, Floor Leader Jeong reflected on the history of the National Assembly from the birth of the Constituent Assembly to the enactment of the Constitution, stating, "Operating the National Assembly in accordance with the 'constitutional spirit' of our predecessors, who enacted the Constitution through constant debate and compromise, is the true way to honor Constitution Day."

Floor Leader Jeong criticized the opposition party, saying, "They have unilaterally notified us of the formation of the standing committees, which should be based on bipartisan agreement, and are running wild by churning out bad laws," adding, "They have no respect for the ruling party, nor any will for dialogue and negotiation."

He further pointed out, "They are trampling on freedom of expression, the separation of powers, and the independence of the judiciary—which are core values and principles of the Constitution—through their legislative power, and are even dragging their feet on introducing a special counsel to uncover the truth behind the June 3rd incident involving the infringement of citizens' voting rights."

Regarding National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik's remark that "considering the meaning of Constitution Day, the formation of the standing committees should be completed before Constitution Day," Floor Leader Jeong retorted, "Setting a deadline and having the giant opposition party do as they please cannot be the meaning of Constitution Day. Constitution Day is not an alibi for an ultimatum to the ruling party."

He added, "If the Democratic Party truly wants to commemorate Constitution Day and reflect on its meaning, they should first reflect on how shameful they are compared to the political dignity shown by our predecessors."

Floor Leader Jeong attended the National Assembly's Constitution Day commemorative ceremony held at the National Assembly at 10:00 a.m. today.

The People Power Party, which has been boycotting National Assembly schedules in protest against the Democratic Party's unilateral formation of standing committees, had initially decided not to attend the ceremony, but changed its stance around 9:00 p.m. last night, stating, "We have decided to attend for the sake of the greater good."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.