‘Jeong Cheong-rae Standard’ turns National Assembly into comedy

“I realized and learned that it takes delicate techniques and persuasion skills to push through what's right.”

This is what Jeong Cheong-rae, a freshman lawmaker in the 17th National Assembly in 2004, said in an interview with the media about his first year in the National Assembly. Twenty years later, looking at the way the National Assembly's Legislation & Judiciary Committee head Jeong Cheong-rae operates the committee, it seems that what he needed to learn then was attitude, not techniques. Rep. Jeong Seong-ho, a leading pro-Lee Jae-myung lawmaker, said, “Attitude is the essence. The essence is manifested in the attitude.”

Is it a situation where two become alike while fighting? When the opposition party criticizes the president, a former prosecutor, one of their repertoires is calling him 'a technocrat.’

However, just like a technocrat, Committee Chairman Jeong uses the National Assembly Act as a weapon against ruling party lawmakers, witnesses, and relevant third parties. During the hearing on the petition to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol last Saturday, Jeong told a committee member, “Rep. Kwak Kyu-taek of the People Power Party keeps staring at me with squinted eyes, which makes it quite uncomfortable for me to proceed,” and asked the staffer to “film whether he continues to glare at me for five minutes or not.” “If he continues to do so at me for five minutes, I will decide that he has disrupted the order and expel him under Article 145(2) of the National Assembly Act,” he said. “There is no such provision in the National Assembly Act to expel a member for staring,” said a longtime National Assembly official. “Even within the Democratic Party, they are more nervous than applauding.”

On Monday, PPP Floor Leader Choo Kyung-ho told Jeong, “I recommend that you take off your parliamentary badge and take a moment to take a good look at yourself in the mirror today.” In the afternoon on the same day, Rep. Jeong posted a photo of himself in front of a mirror on Facebook with the caption, “I took off my gold badge and stood in front of the mirror as recommended by Choo. Aren't I look so normal?” he wrote. When I asked a Democratic Party member about Jeong's attitude, he said, “It is the Yoon Suk Yeol administration that has eliminated communication and cooperation with its strange rule of law. Rep. Jeong has been the most prominent in responding to the demands of party members to fight the administration properly.”

Advocacy becomes pressure. It is pressure asking, “Do as Jeong does.” Park Chan-dae, a key member of pro-Lee Jae-myung lawmakers, is no exception. At the conference hall of the House Steering Committee on July 1, shouting matches erupted between the opposition, the presidential office, and the ruling party. Park, who is the head of the Steering Committee, said, “If you shut your mouth, things will go smoothly,” and then apologized, saying, “I'm sorry if you were offended by the expression‎ ‘shut your mouth.’” Although he kept his manners as the head, he was criticized by strong supporters to do it right. There is also a self-mocking saying in political circles, “‘Jeong Cheong-rae Standard’ is becoming the standard for running the National Assembly.”