Leaders of South Korea's two major political parties held talks Wednesday in hopes of helping normalize state affairs, but the meeting ended with the two showing widely divergent views on how to address the power vacuum.
At the meeting, the ruling People Power Party's acting Chair Rep. Kweon Seong-dong floated amending the portion of South Korea's Constitution that stipulates that the president serves a single five-year term. The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea's leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung, meanwhile, called for political normalcy by urging the ruling party to cooperate with his idea of a consultative body of the National Assembly and the government.
The meeting was held with the expectation of a political breakthrough to fill the vacuum in the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, as key figures have either been dismissed or suspended due to ongoing impeachment cases.
The administration is struggling to find a nominee to fill in for former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, a major suspect in the probe into Yoon's surprise Dec. 3 martial law declaration.
Other key figures -- including Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, Board of Audit and Inspection Chair Choe Jae-hae and Korean National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Ji-ho, to name a few -- were suspended from their posts following the opposition-led move to impeach them. A total of 14 impeachment motions have been filed against officials of the Yoon administration, including the president himself.
In addition to the impeachments, the two parties have locked horns over the extent to which acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo should exercise presidential executive powers, such as in vetoing opposition-sponsored bills or approving new justices for Yoon's impeachment trial.
Wednesday's talks, while held in an amicable atmosphere, yielded no specific agreements between the party leaders on these contentious issues.
The two leaders did not delve into details of the contentious issues during the closed-door meeting, according to Rep. Jo Seoung-lae, senior spokesperson of the Democratic Party, who spoke to reporters after the meeting that lasted for about an hour.
Jo, however, added that the two agreed to meet frequently.
The party leaders' opening remarks also indicated that the parties' proposals remained divergent.
Kweon proposed to Lee that the main opposition party ditch its move to impeach key government officials in order to ease the burden on the Constitutional Court and address the paralysis in state affairs.
In this regard, Kweon "welcomed" Lee's earlier suggestion that the defense minister post not remain vacant.
Kweon also sought Lee's cooperation in amending the Constitution, saying the most recent amendment, which has served as the basis for the presidential system for decades, has been "far from realistic."
Lee, whose party occupies 170 parliamentary seats in the 300-member National Assembly, said the priority in stabilizing state affairs must be the ruling party's cooperation through a consultative body of the parliament and the government, which Lee floated following Yoon's suspension.
Lee asked Kweon not to be pessimistic toward the idea, acknowledging Kweon's concern that if the ruling party participates in the consultative body, it could be sidelined in the National Assembly-led stabilization effort.
The main opposition leader also called for Kweon's cooperation in laying out a more expansionary fiscal policy to improve ordinary people's living conditions. The ruling bloc has called for a smaller fiscal intervention throughout Yoon's term, which began in May 2022.
After the meeting with Lee, Kweon said the ruling party "needs further deliberation" over its participation in the prospective consultative body.
The talks took place as Kweon became the acting chair of the ruling party, following Monday's resignation of former leader Han Dong-hoon, who supported Yoon's impeachment in Saturday's vote. Kweon, a five-term lawmaker, was chosen as the floor leader of the party just the previous week.
