Opposition party chief emphasizes economic democracy

[THE INVESTOR] The Main opposition party leader pledged on Tuesday to enact a strict law on the South Korean conglomerates’ illegal business activities, pushing his agenda for “economic democratization” in an address to the National Assembly.

The Minjoo Party of Korea’s chairman Rep. Kim Chong-in said that his party would seek to revise the Commercial Act in order to prevent large businesses from abusing their power and engaging in unfair business practices. 

“The job of a legislative body is to keep the activities of big corporations in check, not to represent their interests,” said Kim in his first ever parliamentary speech as a party leader. “If the Assembly protects their interests, there is no future for South Korea.”

Former economics professor is known as the architect of the economic democracy clause of Korea’s constitution, which obligates the state to maintain a balanced economic growth and to prevent the abuse of economic power.

During the speech, The Minjoo Party leader suggested that the nation needs to change the current single-term, five–year presidential system, echoing others on the need to revise the Constitution that was last amended in 1987.

Kim urged the lawmakers to establish an independent committee to discuss the revision. Though the main parties agree on the need for an amendment, they differ on what new government structure the country should adopt.

“The current president-centric Constitution has incurred many conflicts and divisions, and brought us political confusion,” Kim said. “From the aspect of economic policies, the current single-term presidency is not conducive to setting up long-term economic policies,” he said.

Political parties differed over whether to accept Kim’s proposal to build such an organization. The ruling Saenuri Party floor leader Rep. Chung Jin-suk said that the parties need to discuss before implementing the plan.

Rep. Park Jie-won, the floor leader of the third-biggest People’s Party, said that he agreed with the Minjoo Party leader’s initiative. Its party leader Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo said in an interview that simply changing the terms of the presidency would not address the problem of current power structure.

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)