South Korea's largest opposition party's ”New Year's message”...emphasizes the ”essence of politics”

On the 1st, Lee Jae-myung, head of South Korea's opposition Democratic Party of Korea, emphasized the ``essence of politics'' and proposed ``problem-solving politics'' to improve people's lives as his first message for the new year.
At a New Year's greetings party held at the Seoul Central Party Building this morning, Lee said, ``Ordinary politics may seem like politicians getting together to strategize and discuss something, but... I am
``Politics may seem like it's done by politicians, but it's actually done by the people. All power must be directed toward the people.''
He went on to say, ``It is possible to think of power as something that I have fought for and taken away from somewhere,'' and ``In the end, that power...
It is clear that this power came from the people and must be exercised solely for the sake of the people."
He also said, ``The more difficult the situation, the more politics should do to overcome the difficult situation.''
``When prices rise, it is the role of politics to make efforts to prevent them from rising and to take measures so that the people can adapt to the rise in prices.''
He continued, ``Things like, ``Prices have risen considerably, so don't waste your money'' or ``If you have to pay for heating, then you should save money'' cannot be considered countermeasures.
Those are the words of a bystander." Representative Lee said, ``We must overcome this difficult situation and find a new and better way,'' adding, ``In the year of the Blue Dragon, we must overcome this difficult situation.''
I hope that we will use our strength to shake off the crisis of peace, the crisis of people's livelihoods, and the crisis of democracy, and move forward together with all our strength toward new hope and a better future."