Photo: Speaker of the Assembly U Won-sik scales the wall of the National Assembly grounds to hold an emergency parliamentary session to lift the martial law. Credit: Office of the Speaker of the Assembly.
Amid coup-related political acrimony, Speaker of the Assembly U Won-sik 우원식 국회의장 is gaining people’s trust. In this week’s Gallup Korea poll, 56% said they trusted U among the four main players in the ongoing impeachment drama. Democratic Party chairman Lee Jae-myung 이재명 민주당 당대표 came in second place at 41%; Prime Minister Han Deok-su 한덕수 국무총리 at 21%, and; People Power Party chairman Han Dong-hun 한동훈 국민의힘 당대표 at 15%.
The 67-year-old U made news by showing surprising athleticism to scale the wall of the National Assembly grounds, in order to open the emergency parliamentary session to lift Yoon Suk-yeol's martial law declaration. On December 14 when the impeachment bill passed, U presided wearing a camellia flower 동백꽃 badge symbolizing the memory of the Jeju Massacre, as well as a green necktie that was a gift from former Assembly Member Kim Geun-tae 김근태, a famed democracy activist known for his testimony of gruesome torture he suffered at the hands of the Chun Doo-hwan 전두환 dictatorship.