Park, Choo to hold bilateral talks Tuesday

President Park Geun-hye will meet the leader of the main opposition party in an exclusive bilateral talk Tuesday, raising hopes for a political breakthrough to a crisis of confidence engulfing Park.

“President Park decided to accept the (bilateral) meeting which (Democratic Party of Korea) leader Rep. Choo has suggested,” presidential spokesperson Jung Youn-kuk said in a text message sent out to reporters Monday.

“(The meeting) will be held tomorrow and the detailed time is currently under negotiation."

The Democratic Party of Korea’s chairperson Rep. Choo Mi-ae had proposed early Monday morning that the rare one-on-one meeting with the president be held as soon as possible

The key point of Tuesday’s interparty talk is expected to be whether the president will concede to the main opposition camp’s demand and take a backseat, handing over all practical power to an incoming prime minister.

“I am looking for an opportunity to talk heart to heart with President Park so as to discuss the public sentiment and find solutions to the current political deadlock,” Choo said in a party meeting. She had called Presidential Chief of Staff Han Gwang-ok at around 6:30 a.m., demanding an emergency bilateral meeting with the president.

The lawmaker said the meeting could be held either in the National Assembly or Cheong Wa Dae, or another place if necessary.

Choo’s suggestion, deemed a simplified version of the president’s multilateral meeting with all political party chiefs, followed a record-breaking massive rally held in central Seoul on Saturday to press for Park’s resignation over the corruption scandal revolving around her close aide Choi Soon-sil.

The Democratic Party, along with other opposition parties, had joined the street protest said to have gathered over 1 million citizens.

The runner-up opposition People’s Party lashed back at the forthcoming bilateral meeting’s exclusion of minority parties.

“We cannot but doubt the intention (of Choo’s suggestion for an exclusive bilateral talk),” said Rep. Park Jie-won, floor leader and interim chief of the party.

“Neither Choo who insisted on (a bilateral talk), nor President Park who accepted it seem to understand what the people truly want amid the current political situation.”

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, the party’s former chief and a presidential aspirant, also told reporters the main opposition party’s move was against the public sentiment as expressed at the recent candlelight rally.

The three opposition parties, including the progressive minority Justice Party, had agreed last week to participate in the candlelight rally and jointly hold an opposition gathering this week.

Their joint action came as backlash against the president’s earlier suggestion the legislature select a prime minister candidate -- a move the opposition denounced as merely delaying action as the president refrained from clarifying the incoming prime minister’s range of authority.

But the street protest seemingly widened the opinion gap between the three parties, as the two minority parties cried out for Park’s resignation or impeachment, whereas the Democratic Party stuck with “withdrawal from power” -- an expression that does not necessarily involve resignation.

Meanwhile, the embattled president is likely to face prosecutorial questioning within the week, as the ongoing probe on key presidential aides has been closing in on her alleged involvement in the series of peddling of influence led by confidante Choi.

The probe, should it take place as planned, is to make for the first case in South Korea’s history of an incumbent president being questioned by investigators over irregularities.

By Bae Hyun-jung()