LKP chairman blasts at Moon's economic policy

Liberty Korea Party Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn speaks during a press conference at the party's headquarters in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

By Park Ji-won

Liberty Korea Party (LKP) Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn blasted the Moon Jae-in government's economic policy Monday, pledging to launch the party's own economic committee to come up with proposals by the end of May.

He also asked Moon for a one-on-one meeting with him to discuss the economy.

“The LKP will launch an economic committee to carry out its Economy Transformation Project for 2020 by the end of May in order to stop the country's economy and people's livelihoods from becoming unrecoverable,” Hwang said during a press conference.

The committee will be composed of economic experts, women and young people as well as LKP members, Hwang said.

Claiming the current economic troubles were attributable to the Moon Jae-in administration's adherence to failed policies, he said, “Moon should change his economic policy and discuss this in a one-on-one meeting with me.”

The remarks came after he ended a three-week long nationwide speech tour during which he criticized the administration's economic and security policies. The LKP has also been criticizing the government's anti-nuclear and “pro-North Korea” policies, claiming that this was how “leftists” conducted a “dictatorship.”

He has declined an invitation from Cheong Wa Dae to meet Moon with the leaders of other parties to discuss the normalization of National Assembly sessions, which have not been held for months due to LKP protests.

He said the major opposition party would only return to the National Assembly if the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) apologized for fast-tracking bills and also withdrew them. He claimed it was the DPK's fault that the Assembly was not holding interpellation sessions.

Hwang said the LKP will come up with measures to tackle the shortened working week and the system for determining the minimum wage. It will also seek to resume construction of the Shin Hanul 3 and 4 nuclear reactors, hold joint projects with China to deal with fine dust pollution, and challenge the government's plan to remove some weirs from the country's four major rivers.

Regarding LKP Rep. Khang Hyo-shang disclosing classified information of a telephone conversation between President Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump, Hwang defended him, claiming the leak was a legitimate act to criticize the government's diplomacy and secure the people's right to know.

Some critics said he hinted at the LKP's possible return to the Assembly as his plans need parliamentary legislation.

“The economic plan he suggested cannot be made outside the Assembly, meaning he will have to resume political activities there,” Kim Hyung-jun, a politics professor at Myongji University said during an interview with YTN.