Rival parties should compromise to normalize idle parliament

May 29, 2019, 09:16 am

		0
DP Floor Leader Lee In-young (right) and Vice Floor Leader Lee Won-wook talk during a meeting held at the National Assembly on May 28./ Photographed by Song Eui-joo

By AsiaToday reporter Heo Go-woon

“Politics is always about the haves making a lot of concessions. President Moon Jae-in and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) should make a compromise with opposition parties to break the political deadlock.”

Political experts have suggested that “the haves,” referring to President Moon Jae-in and the ruling DP, should come forward in order to normalize the idle parliament and break the political deadlock. Amid deepening party standoff over fast-track reform bills, partisan tensions have been raised higher after Rep. Khang Hyo-sang of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) recently disclosed what President Moon and US President Donald Trump had said on the phone. Furthermore, rival parties bickered over whether a closed-door meeting between Suh Hoon, director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and Yang Jeong-cheol, director of the ruling party’s think tank, might constitute a violation of political neutrality by the intelligence organ. There are rising concerns that the idle parliament will not be normalized in June.

“Both the DP and LKP are concerned that they might lose their leadership in state affairs if they make concessions now,” said R&Search director general Kim Mi-hyun on Tuesday. “Making compromises might make you feel like you are losing right now. But the party that makes compromises will eventually win because it will become the one who led parliament normalization, winning public support,” she added. “We don’t see any dialogues, compromises, or win-win approaches. The hostile confrontation is intensifying to the maximum,” said Park Sang-byung, a visiting professor at Inha University.

In fact, the disappointment of South Korean people watching the idle parliament is being expressed by complaints towards legislators. In an opinion survey released Tuesday by AsiaToday, commissioned by R&Search, 59.1 percent of respondents said they want to replace incumbent lawmakers of their districts with new faces in the general election next year. Only 31.4 percent of respondents were satisfied with incumbent lawmakers while 60.7 percent were not.

“The people are getting furious over the idle parliament,” said Kim. “There are no winners or losers in the political pride battle. Only the people will be the victims.”

#idle parliament #compromises #normalization #Democratic Party #R&Search;