Belated abandonment of the privilege

In a speech in the National Assembly Monday, Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung vowed to surrender lawmakers’ prerogative of turning down a request for an arrest warrant from prosecutors, reversing from his earlier defiance. Lee said he would directly attend the court hearing if an arrest warrant on him is filed. Someone who had been a presidential candidate and head of the majority party should not have used parliamentary protection in the first place to block the prosecution from arresting him for investigations into various allegations against him.

Under Lee’s helm, the DP used its majority position to reject all the arrest requests for its members, starting with Rep. Noh Woong-rae last December. The motion to detain Lee for investigation also was rejected, as well as on Reps. Youn Kwan-suk and Lee Sung-man over bribery allegations before the national convention of the party. Although Lee, during the presidential campaign, pledged to abolish the system of protecting lawmakers from being arrested, the DP has continued to shield its party members from the request for arrest.

During his address to the legislature, Lee also criticized the government for giving up on “livelihoods of the people, economy, politics, diplomacy and national security,” as the government “has been entirely engrossed with prosecutorial raid and physical detention for investigations.” Although the head of the main opposition should criticize the government and the governing party, he should not have used violent rhetoric to accuse the government of turning the country into an “underdeveloped one.” As the majority party, the DP is responsible for cooperative politics. He did not mention any of the DP’s faults for causing conflict by repeatedly passing controversial bills unilaterally.

Instead, Lee pitched for a supplementary budget amounting to 35 trillion won ($27 billion) to finance universal basic income — his signature campaign promise in the last presidential election — and fired off a series of populist policy ideas ahead of the parliamentary elections next April. The DP’s outline for a supplementary budget even included an increased subsidy for community currencies, also his signature policy when he was the governor of Gyeonggi. Lee demanded a fiscal expansion to stimulate the economy, even if it requires an additional issuance of government debt. Tax income as of April this year shrank by 34.1 trillion won from a year-ago period due to reduced corporate taxes from the slowed economy. Fiscal deficits already reached a whopping 54 trillion won in the first quarter. Calling for a blanket cash handout and welfare benefits despite the troubled fiscal condition is irresponsible. Debt load can be a heavy burden for the future generation. The majority party must cooperate with enacting a bill on fiscal guidelines to ensure fiscal integrity instead of turning to the easy stimuli card.