Time to end the vicious cycle of ‘vetocracy’

To stop the vicious cycle of vetocracy, the government and the PPP must come forward.

Shortly after the Chuseok holiday, the governing People Power Party (PPP) and the majority Democratic Party (DP) fiercely clashed again over sensitive bills. The DP unilaterally passed the three contentious bills — two special motions to investigate corruptions involving first lady Kim Keon Hee and revisit the suspicious death of a Marine and a bill to provide cash relief to people — after PPP lawmakers walked out of the chamber in the National Assembly in protest. President Yoon Suk Yeol will most likely veto the three contentious bills. He has already exercised his veto 21 times since his election as president in 2022. “Vetocracy” has become the new normal in the 22nd National Assembly.

The DP’s relentless push for the three bills certainly went beyond the limit. The opposition added a new suspicion over the first lady intervening in the PPP’s nominations before the April parliamentary elections to the special motion this time, but the party already submitted the bill six times to look into the first lady’s suspicious acceptance of a luxury handbag from a pastor and her alleged stock price manipulation. The majority party also repeatedly submitted the special motion to look into the possibility of the president influencing the military investigation of the Marine’s death. But those motions were vetoed by the president. The DP pushed the special motion despite criticisms for giving itself the right to refuse candidates for a special prosecutor if it doesn’t like them.

That’s not all. The DP prepares to launch a legislative probe into four suspicions, including over the Marine’s death and the alleged favors for the first lady through the planned construction of a highway. The DP only wants to dilute the growing judicial risks of its boss Lee Jae-myung who awaits the court’s upcoming rulings on his alleged violation of the Public Official Election Act and his alleged subordination of perjury.

The two parties passed urgent livelihood bills last month followed by a rare meeting between their leaders earlier this month. But such reconciliatory mood vanished in just two weeks. In the meantime, the young generation, salaried workers and the self-employed suffer from soaring prices. The two parties, the government and the medical community must urgently establish a committee to cope with the ongoing medical crisis from trainee doctors’ massive walkout to protest the government’s decision to raise the medical school admissions quota. But it’s not clear if such a committee can really be launched.

To stop the vicious cycle of vetocracy, the government and the PPP must come forward. President Yoon must humbly accept his pitiful approval rating of 20 percent and change the way he governs the country. And yet, the first lady started her official activities as if the prosecution’s decision to not indict her on bribery charges granted her immunity from being prosecuted. Only a sincere apology can turn the tide.

The DP must not interpret people’s antipathy toward the government as their praise of the party. The approval rating of the liberal party is no different from that of the PPP. If the DP repeats the futile cycle of vetocracy, it can’t win the next presidential election in 2027.