People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Young-jin holds a press conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday, calling on the government to overhaul its national policy direction, which he said has gone too far in discriminating against the Daegu and North Gyeongsang region. [Provided by Kwon Young-jin's office]
People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Young-jin holds a press conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday, calling on the government to overhaul its national policy direction, which he said has gone too far in discriminating against the Daegu and North Gyeongsang region. [Provided by Kwon Young-jin's office]

People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Young-jin, who represents Dalseo-gu in Daegu, held a press conference at the National Assembly's communication room on Wednesday, demanding a sweeping change in the government's policy direction. "Since the Lee Jae-myung administration took office, favoritism toward certain regions and reverse discrimination against Daegu, North Gyeongsang and other areas has gone too far," he said.

Kwon criticized remarks by some figures in the ruling camp who had described Son Bong-gi, a Daegu District Court senior judge recently nominated as a new Supreme Court justice, as a "local judge" tied to the region. "Disparaging a judge's career built in Daegu and North Gyeongsang as though it were a flaw tramples on the pride of the people of this city and province," he said.

Kwon also pointed to the unequal treatment of regional administrative integration legislation, noting that a special bill for the integration of Daegu and North Gyeongsang had stalled in the National Assembly while a similar bill for Gwangju and South Jeolla Province had passed a plenary session. "It is the same administrative integration — how can opening the door for one region while closing it for another be what the government calls balanced development?" he said.

He also raised concerns about regional equity, citing the designation of the former Gwangju military airbase site as a national semiconductor industrial complex for the Honam region and what he described as a rush to relocate the military airbase.

Kwon said semiconductor factory decisions should not be driven by "political logic or favors to specific regions." He also objected to plans to redistribute air power from the Gwangju military airbase to sites including Yecheon in North Gyeongsang Province, saying the government must not "shift the burden onto other regions in order to accelerate the industrial policy of a particular area."

"If opportunities and treatment differ simply because of where one lives, neither national unity nor genuine balanced development is possible," he added. "The Lee government's reverse discrimination against the Daegu-North Gyeongsang region has gone too far. President Lee Jae-myung's promise to be 'a president for everyone' must be proven not in words but through fair policy and action."


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