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| Rep. Sim Sang-jung, left, of the minor opposition Justice Party poses with National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang after receiving the grand prize at the 20th Baikbong Gentleman's Award at the National Assembly, Tuesday. / Yonhap |
By Yi Whan-woo
Rep. Sim Sang-jung of the minor opposition Justice Party won the highest and most prestigious award for parliamentarians, her party said Wednesday.
It said Sim, a former party chairwoman and also a 2017 presidential candidate, received the grand prize at the 20th Baikbong Gentleman's Award at the National Assembly, Tuesday.
The award is named after the pen name of late National Assembly Vice Speaker Ra Yong-gwyn, who served his term in 1963.
Baikbong Memorial Foundation has hosted the award since 1999.
The foundation has honored 10 outstanding legislators at the end of the year based on their overall reputation and performances. Among them, the grand prize is presented to someone who is revered for being gentle and exemplary in carrying out their job.
Now serving her third term in the Assembly, Sim, 59, joined the list of 10 in 2007, 2015 and 2017, but had not won the grand prize.
She is the first to win the grand prize from any minor party.
"There are plenty of legislators who are far better than me, and considering this, I am so humbled by this honor," Sim said at the award ceremony.
Although she found the award meaningful, she still said she can't be just happy because of the "grave situation" faced by the National Assembly.
She referred to growing public distrust toward the Assembly and its slow progress in political reform.
"And I make a fresh resolution to reform the Assembly and rebuild its reputation," she said.
Among the nine other legislators this year were National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang, six ruling Democratic Party of Korea DPK members ― chairman Lee Hae-chan, former Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, Won Hye-young, Woo Won-shik, Park Yong-jin and Park Ju-min ― Kim Se-yeon of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party and Yoo Seong-min of the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party.
Chung holds the record for the most awards with 14, including the one this year.
The winners were selected based on responses from National Assembly press corps and active lawmakers in a survey taken from Nov. 1 to 16.
Baikbong Memorial Foundation previously ran the survey only on National Assembly press corps, but has decided to include legislators from this year.
Some 33.2 percent of the respondents assessed honesty as the most important virtue for parliamentarians, followed by devotion to the public and society (27.2 percent), political leadership (12.2 percent) and communication skills (9.9 percent).
