The People Power Party will launch three task forces as soon as the National Assembly's parliamentary audit of government agencies ends, targeting better treatment for firefighters, an end to relationship-based crime, and allegations of patronage appointments under the Lee Jae-myung administration. The main opposition party said it aims to move beyond criticizing the government and the ruling party to become an "alternative policy party" that offers its own answers on key livelihood issues. It also proposed a livelihood policy council with the ruling party to resolve the question of easing the 52-hour workweek cap.
Lim Yi-ja, chair of the PPP's policy committee, announced the plan at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly on the 22nd. "The People Power Party will immediately launch three task forces to set livelihoods, safety and fairness right, as soon as this parliamentary audit ends," she said.
The three bodies will be a task force on honoring firefighters' service, a task force on relationship-based crime aimed at ending dating violence and stalking, which she said are worsening, and a task force investigating allegations of patronage appointments under the Lee administration that she said undermine fairness and common sense.
"Right after the audit, we will hold a public briefing on the parliamentary audit and report the results to the people in detail," she said. "The People Power Party will not stop at verbal criticism. As an alternative policy party that presents practical solutions, we will resolve the people's concerns."
The party also proposed convening a livelihood policy council between the rival parties to settle the question of easing the 52-hour workweek cap. It sharply criticized the Democratic Party for simultaneously introducing one bill that would relax the cap and another that would maintain it, calling the approach "irresponsible, two-track hedging legislation."
"For semiconductors, artificial intelligence and advanced research and development, every single day is golden time that decides life or death," Lim said. "Experts and academics have warned again and again how great a shackle it is to cling to a uniform 52-hour workweek rule in cutting-edge fields where concentrated research and development is the lifeblood."
"A mega-region special zone law without labor exemptions is a steamed bun with no filling, a half-baked bill that is nothing but a shell," she added. "I propose that we open a livelihood policy council between the rival parties and also settle the issue of easing the 52-hour workweek rule."