Since you've been an Assemblyman for 24 years,
there are some memorable pictures of you.
- I brought them with me. / - You did?
Please explain each picture.
This is the Speaker's chair that we just saw.
The one who's asleep is you?
This picture was taken
back in 2004.
There was President Roh's impeachment issue.
I bring a bill of President Roh's impeachment.
(The bill for President Roh's impeachment)
(was brought in by the opposition parties)
When they tried to pass the bill,
we didn't have enough seats to stop them.
So we took over the plenary chamber
and spent many nights there
to stop them from passing the bill.
We were asleep below the Speaker's chair.
At 3:50 a.m. the members of the opposition party
barged into the plenary chamber.
So we took over the place once again.
Imagine how tired we must've been then.
We stayed in there for days.
You can see Kim Youngchoon here.
We have Im Jongseok and Chung Dongyoung here.
Everyone is grabbing their necks.
Assemblywoman Na Kyungwon said
former activists are good fighters.
Is that true?
Many of them were activists in the past.
There are two types.
Student activists and actual athletes.
Student activists fight well with their willpower,
and real athletes are good with physical fights.
Which Assemblyman fights the best?
All of us.
We all used to be activists.
- Everyone? / - Yes.
What did you do during physical fights?
I may look like a quiet man,
but I used to run up and down the mountains
along with mountain rabbits.
So I have great physical strength.
(Mountain rabbit power)
In the end, the Speaker exercised his authority
as the Speaker to maintain order.
So the security guards came in
along with members of the opposition party
and dragged us out of there.
(Chief Presidential Secretary Im Jongseok)
The one who dragged me out
was actually an athlete in the past.
It was former Assemblyman Kim Seongjo.
He's really strong.
He actually was an athlete.
- You must've been carried out by him. / - Sure.
We can laugh about it now, since it's in the past.
But it was a big issue back then.
The bill for President Roh's impeachment has passed.
We were devastated then.
We kept saying, "This is wrong."
Fortunately, the common people
were on our side by far.
They thought the opposition party came on strong.
The people were on our side,
so that's why we were able to do such a thing.
- It was permissible. / - Yes.
I think this picture was taken last year
when we passed the bill to impeach President Park.
The bill for President Park's impeachment
has passed.
Last year, the people were in such an uproar
due to President Park's actions
that 80% of the people supported impeachment.
When I passed the bill,
it was quiet and orderly.
There were no physical fights.
It was all in good order.
(It was quite different from 12 years ago)
It must feel strange to look at both pictures.
That's right.
In the end, the people are the owners of the nation.
The National Assembly and other organizations
must follow the people's wishes.
But I hope something like this
never happens again.
- If you look at my face... / - You look gloomy.
I had a heavy heart.
Let's look at the next picture.
This is a meaningful picture, too.
(Satisfied)
It's when you ran as a candidate in Jongno.
I ran against a strong candidate.
Isn't it former mayor Oh Sehoon?
He served as mayor of Seoul for two terms.
He's tall and handsome.
And he's on the young side.
He was a candidate with a competitive edge.
He resigned because of the free school lunch issue
and ran in this election, right?
That's right.
You dissed him with your banners.
"Let's enjoy school lunches!"
(Dissing his opponent)
This is the key point!
Jongno-gu is the no.1 place in politics,
as it has produced three presidents.
It was quite meaningful as a politician, right?
I served four terms in the Honam region.
You could've continued there. Why Jongno?
If they supported me that much, I felt like
I should go out into the bigger world
and challenge myself. So I ran in Jongno.
- I had nowhere else to back off to. / - Really?
I told myself that if I lost the election here,
I would retire from politics.
(He beat Hong Saduk and won the election)
(He was elected as a Jongno Assemblyman)
(What a relief...)
I knew that the other parties would place
the strongest competitors in the next election.
By intuition?
So I worked very hard for four years.
Thanks to that, I was able to win
in the next election by a landslide.
No. 1 area of politics Jongno is a big issue
as the top politicians are competing for dominance.
Former mayor Oh Sehoon and a five-term Assemblyman
are competing against each other.
In a poll between Oh Sehoon and
Chung Syekyun, Oh received 45.8% of the votes.
(He refuted the poll results on social media)
(What was the result?)
Here's the winner of Jongno.
It is Chung Syekyun of the Minjoo Party.
How do you think you won six straight terms?
I was active in legislative activities.
I made 100 legislative reports a year.
A legislative report is where
I gather local residents
and explain to them what I do.
How many do Assemblymen usually do in a year?
It's hard to make even 10 reports.
I made 100 reports.
(The man who made 100 legislative reports)
I wrote down everyone's opinions
and did follow-ups, too.
That's how hard I worked.
Maybe you can serve eight to nine straight terms.
(A big smile)
I'm impressed.
Did I brag about myself too much today?
No one would be able to know that
unless I point it out.
You're very subtle in your bragging.
Quite experienced.
You are indeed a six-term Assemblyman.
You're second in command right now.
Don't you want to be first in command?
I did run for that once.
- You ran for candidacy. / - Yes.
Standing advisor Chung Syekyun of the Minjoo Party
officially declared that he will run for president.
(Four men competing for candidacy)
The Minjoo Party choose Moon Jaein
as their candidate, as expected.
Moon Jaein received 60.6% of the votes.
(Chung failed to become a candidate)
A politician is popular when he has
a group that strongly supports him
and a group that strongly opposes him.
But I'm just a lukewarm politician.
You're just colorless and odorless?
What do you think about that?
I look like a man from a small village.
No one can tell when I'm angry.
It's because you're always smiling.
(A nice colorless, odorless politician) (I'm angry)
Would you go for it again?
I'm currently Speaker of the National Assembly.
I don't think it's right for me to think about
what other position I want to take.
You smiled big when I talked of eight straight terms.
(A big smile)
You smiled big.
You caught me.
Let's look at the next picture.
(Next picture?)
To stop media laws from passing,
did you go on a hunger strike?
Yes.
They tried to pass media laws
under the Lee Myungbak administration.
I thought that was wrong.
It would suppress freedom of the media
and prevent diversity of the media,
so I thought I had to stop it.
Over the 24 years that you were a politician
how many times did you go on hunger strike?
- That was my first one. / - It was?
I was hungry quite often as a child.
I hate being hungry.
You're quite honest.
You must've been very hungry.
After four days on hunger strike,
my mind became clearer, and I was fine.
We had a TV with us until the third day.
So many ads for seasoned meat were on.
I had never seen ads for meat before that.
I kept seeing them.
While you were on hunger strike.
(A hunger strike for six days for his political beliefs)
- I did it for six days. / - I see.
(But the bill passed)
On the 22nd, four laws,
including the media laws,
passed during the Cabinet meeting.
Chung Syekyun of the Minjoo Party handed in
his resignation to the Speaker and left.
They enforced the law faster than we expected.
I couldn't continue the hunger strike.
So I ended it, and it was over quickly.
The situation of the media these days...
People in the media are struggling right now.
Those in power can place someone as president,
or the media can broadcast unfairly,
so many bills have been proposed
to make a system where the media can be
completely independent from authority.
We will fiercely discuss this issue.
The Speaker at the time used his authority
to pass the media laws.
During the investigation on President Park,
you refused to extend the investigation.
Four opposition parties talked to Speaker Chung
to request an extension of the investigation done by
special prosecutors, but Chung spoke of due process
and said he could not use his authority.
Some people called you a wimp.
Some people were sarcastic towards you.
Why did you refuse?
I didn't refuse.
They were asking me to do something
that I had no authority to do. I couldn't do it.
At the time, I thought it was right
to give an extension to the investigation.
But at the time, acting president Hwang
refused to do so.
Since he refused,
they asked me to extend it using my authority.
However, the conditions required for the Speaker
to step in and use his authority are very strict.
Only in a state of emergency or natural disaster,
or when all negotiation bodies agree,
can I use my authority.
Since the laws of the National Assembly
didn't allow me to do it, I wasn't able to.
Some said it was a state of emergency.
The president's authority was suspended.
But every other organization in Korea was
operating normally except the presidential office.
It was hard to see it as an emergency situation.
Here's the next picture.
Can you explain this picture to us?
(Happy)
This is Germ Man.
This is Loopy.
All three of us work together in my office.
You must've been teased a lot due to your name.
When I ran for Assemblyman in Jongno,
I was campaigning near an elementary school.
They mocked me. "He's Syekyun (Germ!)
He's Syekyun (Germ)!"
So I said, "Hey! I'm actually
a good germ. Not a bad one."
So they called me "Mr. Good Germ."
So I was called Mr. Good Germ in Jongno.
Mr. Good Germ.
Then Internet users nicknamed me Germ Man.
So I became the Germ Man.
He's a villain,
but not a vicious one.
So I like the nickname.
I heard that the meaning of your name is good.
I may be Speaker today because of it.
"Sye" means "world," and "Kyun" means "even out."
Even out the world.
My last name "Chung" means a rake.
Even out the world with a rake.
I am very satisfied with my name.
You only have one year left in your term.
You said it's your goal to amend the Constitution
before your term is over.
That's right.
Why is that?
The Constitution was written 30 years ago.
Korea has changed dramatically over 30 years.
Three decades have passed.
The Constitution should reflect this change.
These clothes fit nicely in the past,
but they don't fit Korea today.
So we must find clothes that fit Korea well.
The president has too much authority right now,
so we must decentralize power.
I think the Choi Soonsil incident occurred
because the president has too much power.
This should not happen ever again,
so we must amend the Constitution.
What would you like to add?
I don't think the Cabinet system is the answer.
The people won't accept that.
So we should find something else.
Whether it's a two-term presidential system
or a semi-presidential system, if it reflects
today's society well, I think it'll be good.
People say any Assemblyman who's been Speaker
should retire once the term is over.
Once my term ends next May,
I become an ordinary Assemblyman.
- Because you're an Assemblyman. / - Sure.
My term as Assemblyman will end in May 2020.
While I am the Speaker
the National Assembly should take care of the people
to give more power to the people.
I hope I am remembered as the Speaker
who gave power to the people.
All right.
As we did our interview, if there's anything
you haven't bragged about yet...
I've done enough.
Too much is just as bad as too little.
Too much is bad?
If I brag too much...
I do have more to brag about,
but I should stop right here.
Let's take a look at the illustrations.
Let's see how much younger I look.
(He walks over with confidence)
(Shrug)
We hope to see you develop Korean politics
with deep experience and strong beliefs.
Here it is. Six straight terms.
(Satisfied)
There are more mountains to go.
("Jangdori" has gained three social points)
You are quite generous.
- Do you look younger? / - I don't think so.
How much younger could I look in just two hours?
Thank you.
(Taking pictures)
(His hand is frozen from awkwardness)
(An encounter with Chung Syekyun - The End - )
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