DP chief Kim Min-seok says the era of looking only to the U.S. is over

The United States is casting itself not as a generous older brother but as a hard-nosed trading partner, and it is high time South Korea stopped "looking only to the United States," ruling Democratic Party (DP) leader Kim Min-seok told the National Assembly on Monday.

In his first floor speech as leader of the governing party, Kim put what he called a strong-nation mindset front and center.

He took over the DP on Aug. 17 after serving as President Lee Jae Myung's first prime minister until July. His speech ranged from foreign policy and constitutional reform to police oversight, housing and the seating plan in the chamber.

Washington is now urging the country to defend itself, Kim argued, and a sudden thaw between Washington and Pyongyang would leave Seoul exposed, reversing the customary order in reference to ties between the United States and North Korea, putting the United States first.

"The United States itself is casting itself not as a generous elder brother but as a hard-nosed trading partner, and it is recommending self-reliant defense," Kim said at a plenary session of the National Assembly that opened the regular session.

"Given that the United States and North Korea could achieve an abrupt improvement in relations, and that a freeze-first, resolve-later approach to the North's nuclear program might just be adopted, South Korea has to strengthen its own independent security capacity in advance," he said.

On North Korea's two-state doctrine, Kim reopened a question the president tried to close in August. The Unification Ministry's white paper in May called the two Koreas two states in practice, and after the phrase drew fire as unconstitutional, the ministry said it was its own minister's idea rather than the government's and Lee publicly reined that minister in on Aug. 5.

"It is hard to agree with Chairman Kim Jong-un's hostile two-state theory," the DP leader said. "But the fact that we have, in practice, been recognized as two states reflects the international reality. Rather than ignoring the two-state theory entirely, we need to pool our wisdom on whether it can be used for peaceful coexistence."

On Japan, Kim said a pragmatic view had taken hold.

"The view that we should cooperate where cooperation makes sense has grown," he said.

"SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and the Venerable Pomnyun are proposing South Korea-Japan economic cooperation and a shared community," Kim went on, referring to a well-respected Buddhist monk who actively engages in social issues. "Let us build a breakwater of South Korea-Japan cooperation against the waves of U.S.-China competition."

A DP lawmaker on the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee said the strong-nation language was a statement about how far South Korea has come.

"The point is that unlike at the 1953 armistice, the 1965 deployment to Vietnam and the 2004 deployment to Iraq, South Korea has established itself as a strong country that can no longer be treated with disregard," the lawmaker said. "It reads as a call to balance mutual interests in relations with the United States and others rather than being forced into one-sided sacrifice."

Kim wrote the speech himself, according to a first-term lawmaker considered close to him.

"The words he always uses are in there as is, and you can tell he wrote it," the lawmaker said. "You can also get a glimpse of the weight he feels, leading the governing party at a moment when the Lee Jae Myung government needs to work hardest."

Kim also called for constitutional reform that starts by writing the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement and the Busan-Masan Democratic Protests into the preamble, while leaving broader changes to the system of government to public consensus.

The preamble has referenced two events since the Constitution was last amended in 1987: the March First Independence Movement of 1919 and the April Nineteenth Uprising of 1960. Adding the Gwangju and Busan-Masan protests would put the struggle against military rule alongside the struggle against colonial rule and against Syngman Rhee, the first president of South Korea.

The Busan-Masan protests ran for five days in October 1979, when students and residents of the two cities rose against Park Chung Hee's Yushin dictatorship. Park was assassinated six days after they ended. Citizens in Gwangju rose against Chun Doo Hwan's seizure of power in May 1980, drove the army out of the city and held it for a week before paratroopers retook it.

"We will pursue constitutional reform that is realistically achievable and reflects the changing times and public demands while respecting the procedures laid out in the current Constitution and the law," Kim said, touching on a topic President Lee addressed in a quote to French outlet Le Monde during his state visit to France, saying that constitutional revision is needed to strengthen presidential accountability and distribute power more effectively

"Writing May 18, the Busan-Masan Democratic Protests and other democratic movements into the preamble is the starting point. Changes to the system of government can go as far as the public wants," Kim said.

He then made constitutional reform a test of the People Power Party's (PPP) own history. Former President Kim Young-sam, the first civilian leader after decades of military rule, brought his two predecessors to justice and dismantled Hanahoe, the secret military faction that had put them in power.

"The PPP displays a portrait of President Kim Young-sam, who brought Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae-woo to justice, rooted out Hanahoe and embraced May 18 as part of the identity of his civilian administration," Kim said. "In the end, it too will have to choose. I hope it reflects on history and joins us on the road to constitutional reform."

Kim also said his party would strengthen cooperation with progressive reform parties, talk with moderate conservative forces and begin serious discussions on changing the membership threshold for forming parliamentary negotiating groups. A party needs 20 seats to form one to gain negotiating rights and floor time.

"We will strengthen youth policy and deal with youth issues jointly across party lines," Kim said. "We will seek to have the youth committee chairs of the ruling and opposition parties attend government meetings on youth issues together."

On political reform, he started small, with a proposal to change where lawmakers sit in the main chamber.

"Let us start simply by mixing up the seats in the plenary chamber," Kim said. "What if lawmakers sat in Korean alphabetical order by name instead of by party?"

"Party caucus meetings can be held elsewhere, and there is plenty of room to fight face-to-face in the standing committees," he said. "We could sit mixed together, agree with one another sometimes, trade complaints about lawmakers in our own parties and get serious together. Is that not worth trying?"

Kim also pledged to move from prosecution reform to an overhaul of the police.

"This is a time to thoroughly examine our problems and the work ahead rather than our achievements," Kim said. "Following prosecution reform, we will pursue police reform."

"We will consider every institutional tool available so that investigations into violent crime and crimes against the socially vulnerable do not suffer even the slightest neglect," he said. "We will bring together every possible idea to check and streamline the immense investigative power now held by the police."

Kim said the governing party would also seek a more equal footing with the administration.

"We will establish a creative, horizontal relationship between the party and the government, speak frankly about public sentiment and firmly support the administration as a responsible governing party," Kim said. "We humbly accept that the time has come for a rigorous assessment of government performance, and the party and the government will redouble their efforts."

Kim put livelihoods and regional growth at the center of his economic agenda, including the government's "three megaprojects" on semiconductors, physical AI and AI data centers.

"We will put people's livelihoods first and pursue growth in every region," Kim said. "The megaproject initiative is a project to save South Korea by spreading semiconductors, which have been confined to the greater Seoul region, across the whole country."

"They combine a corporate survival strategy with a national development strategy to expand sustainable supply capacity as the capital region reaches its limits and market demand surges, and to strengthen companies' future standing," Kim said. "They are projects to revive every region. They begin in the Gwangju and Jeolla region and spread to the Chungcheong and Gyeongsang regions."

Kim also pointed to the proposed future response fund as another vehicle for long-term investment. The Cabinet approved the 162.3 trillion won ($120.6 billion) fund on Sept. 1 as part of the 2027 budget bill, built out of a semiconductor tax windfall, and the National Assembly has until Dec. 2 to pass it.

"The question is how to use it for growth, young people, regional development and talent cultivation," Kim said. "Along with the ambition to become a strong country, we need a sense of community built on coexistence."

Kim promised faster progress on housing supply, including the third batch of state-led planned cities.

"We will push the third batch of state-led planned cities at unprecedented speed so people can feel the results by 2030," Kim said. "We will steadily support the government's various policies and supply plans, including quickly starting construction on sites that have already been announced."

"We will also actively consult with opposition parties and the Seoul Metropolitan Government to expand supply and open up public discussion on housing policy," Kim said. "We will create a bipartisan consultative body on housing policy and, if necessary, keep it as a continuing priority in a broader bipartisan council on the economics of everyday life."

BY SHIN HYE-YEON [[email protected]]