Justice Party seeks new start under new leader
By Choi Ha-young
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Justice Parcy Chairwoman Lee Jeong-mi
The newly-elected Justice Party leader, Rep. Lee Jeong-mi, is a labor expert who has dedicated herself to promoting workers’ rights.
In 1988, she dropped out of college and went to work for a company in Incheon with a single purpose ― to form a union.
It was a time when the pro-democracy movement was at its peak, and unions sprang up across the country.
“I managed to organize a union soon after and raised the issues of sexual harassment and bullying at workplaces,” Lee said on her blog. “The company did not treat the union well. The police and the labor ministry were on management’s side. Union members were assaulted often.”
Since then, she has devoted her life to improving labor conditions and exposing unfair management practices at conglomerates. Now, she is an outspoken member of the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee.
On Tuesday, she was elected as the new leader of the Justice Party. She received 56.05 percent of the votes at the party convention, beating former lawmaker Park Won-suk's 43.95 percent.
During a general election, a rival candidate called her a “communist” citing her “anti-U.S. and pro-North Korean” activities. “Speaking clearly, North Korea is a country without universal democracy and human rights. The North’s hereditary succession of power is unconvincing. This is the view that I and the Justice Party share,” she said.
The 51-year-old has come under the spotlight for her active engagement against labor repression in “black companies.”
In May, E-land Group said it will pay overdue wages to part-time workers totaling 31 billion won ($ 27 million), following her exposure last year. During the parliamentary inspection, she urged the Ministry of Employment and Labor to look into the workers’ overtime payment at the group’s famous franchised restaurant Ashley.
She has actively advocated victims of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser’s toxic humidifier disinfectant. She was one of the lawmakers who visited Oxy’s headquarters in Britain in September 2016 in protest against the toxic ingredient of the product.
In the same month, she also exposed that the nation’s top logistics service company CJ Korea Express had breached the multiple articles of the Labor Standard Act. Recently, she shed light on the working environment at a promising game company, Netmarble Games. By revealing the rampant overtime work at night in the industry, she called for the company to fully pay the overtime allowances and remedy the wrongful practice.
In May’s presidential election, Lee was a key campaigner for the party’s candidate Sim Sang-jung. Sim garnered 6.2 percent of the votes in the election. Now, Lee is challenged to broaden the party’s appeal to voters.
“The party aims to be the largest opposition party in 2020 after winning the regional election next year,” Lee said after winning the leadership race. “Let’s make marginalized social minorities ― women, part-time workers, youth, farmers and LGBTs ― leading players in the politics of the nation.”
Along with Lee’s leadership, three of five parties are now led by female politicians ― Choo Mi-ae of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and Lee Hye-hoon of the conservative Bareun Party.