Rep. Hwang proposes 'all-party' body

Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party, delivers a speech during a plenary session at the National Assembly in Seoul, Tuesday. / Yonhap

By Jun Ji-hye

Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party, on Tuesday suggested establishing an inter-party body in the National Assembly to tackle key state affairs.

In a speech at the plenary session of the Assembly, Hwang said: “I propose establishing the Strategy for Future of State at the Assembly on the basis of the spirit of grand coalition encompassing all parties.”

The chairman cited three key issues which he categorized as medium- and long-term tasks facing the nation ― creating more jobs to overcome the polarization of society, preparing a diplomatic strategy to deal with North Korea and the Northeast Asian region, and setting up an effective welfare system to address the nation’s low birth rate and aging population problem.

He echoed his call by referring to the success of Germany’s political grand coalition between the Christian Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party as a good model to guide the formation of a similar body in the National Assembly.

“The nation needs about 10 to 20 years to handle such issues. Bipartisan efforts are necessary to resolve such a great crux facing the nation,” he said.

The chairman further said: “The all-party body needs to commit to helping the people in the middle class, for example, by nurturing small- and medium-sized businesses and setting up measures to solve inequality between them and the conglomerates.”

His other suggestions included setting up a bipartisan body to lay the ground works for the eventual unification of the Korean Peninsula.

“Korea will complete its true independence through unification. All parties need to bring together their capability of leading stable changes of North Korea to eventually lead to the establishment of peace in Northeast Asia.”

He called on the nation to support President Park Geun-hye’s inter-Korean policy dubbed “Korean Peninsula Trust-building Process.” The policy amongst other things is hinged on pursuing a two pronged approach of cooperation with the North to be complemented by sternly deterring its military provocations, including nuclear disarmament.

Hwang’s speech was supportive of President Park’s recent emphasis on measures to improve the nation’s economic conditions as well as striving for unification.

Regarding recent criticism of the governing party for retreating on its campaign pledge to scrap the practice of parties nominating candidates for municipal mayors and councilors in the local elections, the chairman insisted that his party is still committed to changing the top-down nomination system to the bottom-up method.

He called on the main opposition Democratic Party to agree to introduce an open primary system, which allows ordinary citizens who have no party affiliation to cast votes for partisan candidates, within this month.

In explaining the reason for the ruling party’s opposition to abolishing the nomination system, Hwang said, “If the system is abolished, unexpected side effects will likely emerge, including a flood of unqualified candidates.”

Commenting on the latest leakage of the personal information of credit cardholders, the five-term lawmaker said his party is considering proposing a reform of the resident registration number system.

“The Saenuri Party is considering a measure to assign random numbers that can substitute for resident registration numbers,” said Hwang. “The relevant entities should actively consider allowing information leakage victims to change their registration numbers as well.”