Rep. Lee Seong-kwon of the People Power Party criticized Rep. Jeon Jae-soo of the Democratic Party of Korea on Facebook Sunday, saying "He broke his own promise to Busan citizens" and "above all, he has declared himself unqualified as a leader."
Lee took issue with Jeon's change in stance. Just two weeks ago, through meetings with Democratic Party floor leader Han Byung-do and others, Jeon publicly pledged that "the ruling Democratic Party will pass the Busan Global Hub City Special Act in this National Assembly session to demonstrate political efficacy." However, in a media interview Saturday, he effectively reversed his position toward scrapping the special act, saying "If only Busan can have a special zone, what about Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province?"
"After President Lee Jae-myung expressed a negative stance on the special act and the Democratic Party halted its processing in the National Assembly, Jeon no longer acted to push it through and ultimately chose to scrap the special act, breaking his own promise," Lee claimed. He added, "We do not call someone a leader who rides political circumstances and bows to a single word from those in power, even on legislation he himself led in proposing. The public calls this type of politician a political opportunist and has always punished and expelled them through elections."
"The wise and great citizens of Busan will never tolerate or forgive Rep. Jeon's behavior of breaking promises and submitting to power," Lee said. "Rep. Jeon will surely be held accountable for this choice."
The Busan Global Hub City Special Act aims to develop Busan into a global hub city with international competitiveness in logistics, finance, and high-tech industries, and to designate international logistics and financial special zones. First proposed in the 21st National Assembly, it was scrapped when the session ended. After the 22nd National Assembly convened, all 18 lawmakers representing Busan districts jointly participated to re-propose it as the first bipartisan cooperation bill.
Even after re-proposal, the bill's passage has not been smooth. On January 30, at the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee plenary session, the special act, which was expected to be processed, was excluded from the agenda citing "insufficient deliberation period." In this process, President Lee effectively put the brakes on the bill by calling it "a populist example of legislator-initiated legislation."
