Speeches
Acceptance Speech by Speaker Moon Hee-sang
- Jul 30, 2018
- 8559
My fellow National Assembly Members,
Thank you for choosing me as the speaker of the National Assembly, despite my lack of competence. First, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Rep. Suh Chung-won, who chaired this meeting as acting speaker today. Thank you very much. I must also pay great honor to former Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, who successfully led the first half of the 20th National Assembly.
I feel a grave sense of duty and responsibility as I take on the role of speaker of the second half of the 20th National Assembly. I solemnly pledge to devote all of the wisdom and knowledge that I have accumulated during my four decades of lawmaking to perform such critical duties.
Today, I would like to make an earnest request.
The parliament is a flower and the last bastion of democracy. When the National Assembly performs its duties vibrantly, so, too, do our democracy and politics flourish. Like the saying, “One cannot survive without trust,” the National Assembly thrives when it wins the people’s trust, yet it stagnates when it loses the people’s trust.
Former President Kim Young-sam once said that “Any decision about state affairs must be made in the National Assembly,” and “Politicians may fight, but (they should) only (do so) in the National Assembly.” And Former President Kim Dae-jung said that “Assemblymen are most beautiful when they are in the National Assembly. So when you fight, please do so in the National Assembly.” The National Assembly is the only place where we can restore the people’s confidence. What those two former presidents who believed in parliamentarism said is the unchangeable truth.
It is said that the ruling party lives in the present, while the opposition party lives in the future. The ruling party seeks to hold onto the reins of power, while the opposition wants to achieve a transfer of power. Over the next two years, the National Assembly should be the only stage for our competition. If we focus on confrontation and conflict, paralyzing the National Assembly and turning a blind eye to the people’s needs, no one will be able to avoid the tsunami of a backlash that will come from the people.
If we do not change ourselves, the people will not sit idly by and watch, but will take action through elections and revolutions, just as they have done every time in history this nation faced a crisis. We should never forget that harsh truth.
My fellow Assembly Members,
Through the 20th general elections in 2016, a multiparty National Assembly was formed. It is only natural that the National Assembly, the servant to the people, work in line with the blueprint that the people, or the servant’s master, drew up. Since its birth, the 20th National Assembly has been destined to deal with state affairs through dialogue, compromise, and cooperative governance. As the speaker, I pledge that the top priority for our next two years shall be governance through cooperation.
The next two years of the 20th National Assembly must be a parliamentary era that bears fruit for ordinary people through governance based on cooperation. The first year of the new administration was the era of the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, but in order to achieve a virtuous cycle of national governance, from the second year onward, it should be the era of the National Assembly. A number of reform road maps proposed by Cheong Wa Dae during the first year can have tangible effects on the lives of the people only when the National Assembly makes them into law. It is time for us to come forward.
The ruling party must assume overall responsibility for legislation aimed at reform and improving people’s livelihoods. They cannot continue blaming the opposition parties in the second year of the administration. But at the same time, the opposition parties must assume a proper attitude toward dialogue and compromise that will be acceptable from the viewpoint of the public. We should cooperate amidst competition, not fight each other in hostility, while exchanging requests and making concessions.
I clearly understand why the National Assembly speaker cannot have a party membership. I will always think on the side of the opposition and minorities, by placing myself in their shoes.
My fellow Koreans and National Assembly Members,
The entire world has its eyes on the Republic of Korea and our endeavors to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula since our candlelight revolution. I think that at the start of the second half of the 20th National Assembly, we stand at a crossroads in our history of constitutional government. We should exert all possible efforts to complete the revolution in terms of a national system, while helping the parliamentary system flourish. And I will honor the people’s wishes as well, by helping the National Assembly earn respect, trust, and love from the people, which I believe is my ultimate duty as a politician.
In a letter that I sent to each Assembly Member, I suggested a blueprint for the parliament: “A National Assembly of harmony and unity, a National Assembly of competency, and a National Assembly for the future.” We all know that no matter how good an idea may be, it cannot be achieved unless all 300 Assembly Members work together. I sincerely ask that all of us work together closely to usher in an era in which cooperative governance and the people’s welfare flourish and can fully bloom.
Thank you.
Thank you for choosing me as the speaker of the National Assembly, despite my lack of competence. First, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Rep. Suh Chung-won, who chaired this meeting as acting speaker today. Thank you very much. I must also pay great honor to former Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, who successfully led the first half of the 20th National Assembly.
I feel a grave sense of duty and responsibility as I take on the role of speaker of the second half of the 20th National Assembly. I solemnly pledge to devote all of the wisdom and knowledge that I have accumulated during my four decades of lawmaking to perform such critical duties.
Today, I would like to make an earnest request.
The parliament is a flower and the last bastion of democracy. When the National Assembly performs its duties vibrantly, so, too, do our democracy and politics flourish. Like the saying, “One cannot survive without trust,” the National Assembly thrives when it wins the people’s trust, yet it stagnates when it loses the people’s trust.
Former President Kim Young-sam once said that “Any decision about state affairs must be made in the National Assembly,” and “Politicians may fight, but (they should) only (do so) in the National Assembly.” And Former President Kim Dae-jung said that “Assemblymen are most beautiful when they are in the National Assembly. So when you fight, please do so in the National Assembly.” The National Assembly is the only place where we can restore the people’s confidence. What those two former presidents who believed in parliamentarism said is the unchangeable truth.
It is said that the ruling party lives in the present, while the opposition party lives in the future. The ruling party seeks to hold onto the reins of power, while the opposition wants to achieve a transfer of power. Over the next two years, the National Assembly should be the only stage for our competition. If we focus on confrontation and conflict, paralyzing the National Assembly and turning a blind eye to the people’s needs, no one will be able to avoid the tsunami of a backlash that will come from the people.
If we do not change ourselves, the people will not sit idly by and watch, but will take action through elections and revolutions, just as they have done every time in history this nation faced a crisis. We should never forget that harsh truth.
My fellow Assembly Members,
Through the 20th general elections in 2016, a multiparty National Assembly was formed. It is only natural that the National Assembly, the servant to the people, work in line with the blueprint that the people, or the servant’s master, drew up. Since its birth, the 20th National Assembly has been destined to deal with state affairs through dialogue, compromise, and cooperative governance. As the speaker, I pledge that the top priority for our next two years shall be governance through cooperation.
The next two years of the 20th National Assembly must be a parliamentary era that bears fruit for ordinary people through governance based on cooperation. The first year of the new administration was the era of the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, but in order to achieve a virtuous cycle of national governance, from the second year onward, it should be the era of the National Assembly. A number of reform road maps proposed by Cheong Wa Dae during the first year can have tangible effects on the lives of the people only when the National Assembly makes them into law. It is time for us to come forward.
The ruling party must assume overall responsibility for legislation aimed at reform and improving people’s livelihoods. They cannot continue blaming the opposition parties in the second year of the administration. But at the same time, the opposition parties must assume a proper attitude toward dialogue and compromise that will be acceptable from the viewpoint of the public. We should cooperate amidst competition, not fight each other in hostility, while exchanging requests and making concessions.
I clearly understand why the National Assembly speaker cannot have a party membership. I will always think on the side of the opposition and minorities, by placing myself in their shoes.
My fellow Koreans and National Assembly Members,
The entire world has its eyes on the Republic of Korea and our endeavors to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula since our candlelight revolution. I think that at the start of the second half of the 20th National Assembly, we stand at a crossroads in our history of constitutional government. We should exert all possible efforts to complete the revolution in terms of a national system, while helping the parliamentary system flourish. And I will honor the people’s wishes as well, by helping the National Assembly earn respect, trust, and love from the people, which I believe is my ultimate duty as a politician.
In a letter that I sent to each Assembly Member, I suggested a blueprint for the parliament: “A National Assembly of harmony and unity, a National Assembly of competency, and a National Assembly for the future.” We all know that no matter how good an idea may be, it cannot be achieved unless all 300 Assembly Members work together. I sincerely ask that all of us work together closely to usher in an era in which cooperative governance and the people’s welfare flourish and can fully bloom.
Thank you.
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