Jeong Jeom-sik calls briefing 'despairing,' says president showed no remorse and dodged tough questions

People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik speaks to reporters at the National Assembly on Friday regarding President Lee Jae Myung's press conference. [Yonhap]
People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik speaks to reporters at the National Assembly on Friday regarding President Lee Jae Myung's press conference. [Yonhap]

The People Power Party sharpened its criticism of President Lee Jae Myung's press conference on Friday, with floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik saying the president had "no thought for the people — only for the left."

Jeong held a press briefing at the National Assembly that afternoon, calling the presidential press conference "despairing."

"It confirmed there is absolutely no will to change the direction of state affairs," Jeong said. "It was a conference that repeated, in hollow wordplay, that the same policy course would continue — with no remorse whatsoever."

On real estate, Jeong said Lee "consistently blamed others, pointing fingers at the previous administration and the Seoul mayor," and added that the president "offered nothing but self-congratulation, with no grasp of the reality that real estate prices have begun to fall."

Jeong also announced plans to push a special prosecutor act targeting single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds. Citing Lee's remark that he had "failed to grasp the detailed procedures and substance involved in the introduction" of such products, Jeong said, "On this issue, we must uncover the truth in the face of an irresponsible president. We will pursue a special prosecutor act on single-stock leveraged ETFs."

Jeong also said Lee "quietly dodged uncomfortable questions" — including those on the chief justice's right to recommend Supreme Court justices and on US pressure to scale up semiconductor factories — and called him "a truly cowardly president."

"This press conference was, at the same time, a sweeping declaration of refusal to change the direction of state affairs and an effort to look after the left — to appease the left — in order to prevent the erosion of his support base," Jeong said.

Asked about Lee's statement that he would not seek a second term, Jeong shot back: "Can you believe words that were forced out of him because his approval rating was falling?" He added that Lee appeared to be "laying the groundwork for a change of heart down the road, after outsourcing the constitutional reform debate to the Democratic Party."

Jeong then drew a line on constitutional reform talks, saying Lee "undermined the chief justice's right of recommendation" while the Democratic Party "acts as a Red Guard, hanging banners across the country demanding the chief justice step down." He said, "We cannot engage in constitutional reform discussions with forces that are destroying judicial independence and the separation of powers — forces that are acting against the Constitution."

On the question of troop deployment to the Strait of Hormuz, Jeong said he viewed the issue as "not simply a matter of deployment to the Strait of Hormuz," describing it as "a complex, high-order equation involving the current state of the South Korea-US alliance, which is showing clear signs of trouble."

He added that "the government must come to the National Assembly and transparently make its case on the current state of the alliance and the pending issues between the two countries — including the question of troop deployment."


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