People Power Party lawmaker Cho Kyung-tae said Thursday that his actions were a political act, questioning whether it made sense for someone who led the charge against impeachment to occupy the weighty position of acting National Assembly speaker.
Appearing on YTN Radio that day, Cho said the matter did not warrant disciplinary action. "If anything, the real party violation was committed by Jang Dong-hyeok," he said, referring to the PPP leader who failed to win the local elections.
Cho addressed the June 5 National Assembly leadership election, in which fellow PPP member Park Deok-heum was elected deputy speaker with 214 votes while Cho received 28. He said the result reflected lawmakers "acting on their conscience."
"Among those 28 votes, I believe some came from Democratic Party members and some from People Power Party members," he added. "I am grateful to the 28 who chose me."
When asked whether the outcome stemmed from calls he made to Democratic Party members arguing that Park was unfit to serve as deputy speaker, Cho said he had reached out beyond the Democratic Party alone. "I also called our own party, the Reform Party and the Progressive Party," he said. "The question I raised was whether it was truly desirable to have forces sympathetic to insurrection sitting in the National Assembly leadership."
He added that organizations representing the May 18 pro-democracy movement and the Buma Democratic Uprising had issued statements declaring Park absolutely unacceptable. "What is wrong with asking people to share that concern?" he said.
When the host noted that critics argued Cho should have accepted the outcome of the party's internal primary rather than contest it, Cho pushed back. "Is it wrong to say that forces sympathetic to insurrection should not hold the deputy speakership? How is that defying a primary result?" he said.
mp1256@heraldcorp.com
