2nd working-level consultation over Yoon-Lee meeting to open Thursday, April 25, 2024

Apr 25, 2024, 11:08 am

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President Yoon Suk-yeol shakes hands with Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), on his way out after delivering a speech at the plenary session of the National Assembly on Oct. 31, 2023./ Source: Yonhap News

AsiaToday reporter Hong Sun-mi

The presidential office and the main opposition Democratic Party have apparently locked horns over setting the agenda for a meeting between President Yoon Suk-yeol and DP leader Lee Jae-myung.

The meeting was expected to take place soon as Yoon had proposed Lee last Friday that they meet at the presidential office next week. However, this week’s talks seem to be going nowhere as the two sides have encountered differences regarding the specifics of the agenda.

Considering the schedule for additional working-level consultations, the Yoon-Lee meeting is expected to take place next week at the earliest.

According to the presidential office and the opposition party on Wednesday, the second working-level consultation over the meeting will be held on Thursday.

“We are supposed to meet on Thursday, so we need to meet and listen to them,” an official from the presidential office said.

On Wednesday, Hong Chul-hol, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, Cha Soon-oh, secretary for political affairs, Cheon Jun-ho, chief secretary of the main opposition Democratic Party, and Kwon Hyuk-ki, head of the DP’s political affairs planning office, met at the National Assembly to coordinate the agenda for the talks.

“At the 40-minute meeting, we decided to make policies to solve urgent public welfare issues and important state affairs the agenda of the talks,” Kwon said. “We decided to discuss the schedule of the talks between President Yoon and DP chair Lee later.”

The Yoon-Lee talks was originally expected to take place on Thursday, but it is highly unlikely as the date of the talks was not confirmed during the working-level consultation.

DP leader Lee is expected to demand a “public apology” for state administration over the past two years, a ban on Yoon’s exercise of his right to request reconsideration, and the acceptance of the Special Prosecutor Act on controversies surrounding a military report on Marine Corporal Chae Su-geun’s death last year.

The opposition is also seeking to include on the agenda a universal livelihood recovery payout of 250 thousand won, or around 182 U.S. dollars.

Although Yoon said he would not limit the agenda for the talks, it seems difficult to accept all such agendas. The timing of the talks is expected to be determined by the extent to which President Yoon accepts the agenda requested by the opposition party.

#Yoon Suk-yeol #Lee Jae-myung #talks