Published : Aug. 6, 2013 - 15:52
President Park Geun-hye heads to a Cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Chung Hong-won (right) and new Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. (Yonhap News)
President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday suggested expanded talks with the leaders of the ruling and main opposition parties, in effect agreeing to Saenuri Party Chairman Rep. Hwang Woo-yea’s suggestion made Monday.
(The president) suggests five-person talks, including the ruling and opposition floor leaders as there are many issues within the parliament,” new presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon said.
Kim Ki-choon also said that Park suggested meeting the parties’ leaders on several occasions, and that she considers it regretful that she has been able to meet only with the ruling party’s chairman due to the DP’s refusal.
On Monday, Hwang suggested that Park meet with himself and DP Chairman Rep. Kim Han-gil as an alternative to the one-on-one meeting between the president and the DP leader.
The Saenuri Party’s floor leader is Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan, a key member of the pro-Park faction, while the post of DP floor leader is held by hard-liner Rep. Jun Byung-hun.
The DP, which had stated that it will agree to the three-way talks suggested by Hwang if Cheong Wa Dae makes an offer, took a reserved position on the issue, saying that the matter needs consideration.
“Kim Han-gil said that he will not be tied down by protocol but the five-way talks are completely different (from Kim’s suggestion),” Rep. Noh Woong-rae, the DP chairman’s chief aide, was quoted as saying by a local news agency.
DP floor leader responded negatively to the offer, saying that the five-way talks should come later.
“In the current situation, I think that one-on-one talks as the chairman of the main opposition initially suggested should come first,” Jun was quoted as saying by the DP’s newly appointed floor spokesman Rep. Chyung Ho-joon.
Although the president’s suggestion could set the stage for resolving the bipartisan deadlock, it comes only hours after Park turned up the heat on the DP.
At Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Park chose to speak about the missing 2007 inter-Korean transcript, without any mention of the parliamentary probe on the National Intelligence Service.
“The unprecedented case of important national records evaporating was an incident that shook the nation’s foundations and erased history. It was an incident that never should have happened,” Park said.
While the parliamentary probe into the NIS was launched over allegations of election interference, the ruling party had repeatedly highlighted the 2007 summit in what the DP refers to as an attempt to “water down” the issue.
Following months of accusations from both sides, the parties agreed to view the transcript of the summit to determine whether or not late President Roh Moo-hyun denied the validity of the Northern Limit Line. However, the records were found to be missing, leading to a spin-off controversy with each side accusing the other of removing the document from the National Archives.
As for the parliamentary investigation, the two parties agreed to an extension of eight days until Aug. 23,
They are said to agree that former NIS chief Won Sei-hoon and former Seoul police chief Kim Yong-pan will be called to the stand.
The two parties will continue to discuss whether to summon the Saenuri Party’s Rep. Kim Moo-sung and Korean Ambassador to China Kwon Young-se, who played critical roles in the president’s election campaign.
The DP has pushed to have the two former campaign aides summoned to the hearing.
As for the NIS’ briefing session on Monday, NIS chief Nam Jae-joon told the lawmakers that he made the decision to disclose the spy agency’s version of the summit records and that he considers Roh’s words to have effectively been a concession of the NLL.
“There wasn’t a statement giving up the NLL (by Roh) but as he agreed with Kim Jong-il’s call to abolish the NLL, (I) regard (Roh’s comments) as giving up the NLL,” Nam was quoted as saying by Saenuri Party and DP lawmakers who attended the session.
By Choi He-suk (
cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)