Democratic Party: “Special investigation of Corporal Chae is essential” Office of the President: “A lot of complicated homework is thrown at us”

Intense battle over agenda for summit talks

The presidential office and the Democratic Party continued to engage in a tense battle over the leadership meeting between President Yoon Seok-yeol and Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung. While the Democratic Party’s position is that comprehensive discussions should be held to change the tone of government affairs, such as providing livelihood recovery support funds and processing the ‘Corporal Chae Special Prosecutor Act’, the President’s Office is struggling, saying, “The Democratic Party has thrown a lot of complicated homework.”

At the party’s Supreme Council meeting on the 24th, Representative Lee said, “Before the end of the 21st National Assembly, we must pass the Special Prosecutor Act on Corporal Chae and begin investigating the truth. “This is the will of the people expressed in this general election.” Representative Lee said, “As pension reform is a core task of the Yoon Seok-yeol government, the ruling party must speed up discussions so that the 21st National Assembly can take responsibility and conclude it,” and indicated that he would also make the issue of pension reform an agenda item for the summit talks. The party leadership also reiterated its intention to pay 250,000 won per person in the country to support people’s livelihood recovery. Policy Committee Chairman Jin Seong-jun said on this day, “There is room for discussion on what (the subsidy) is called and its size.”

The President’s Office showed signs of discomfort with the fact that the Special Prosecutor Chae Act and refraining from exercising the right to request reconsideration (veto) against President Yoon were mentioned as key agenda items. It is not appropriate for politically sensitive issues to be brought up to the summit meeting table. An official from the President’s Office said in a phone call, “The Democratic Party is putting almost all of the agenda items on the agenda,” and added, “The Democratic Party gave us a lot of complicated homework in the first working-level consultation. “For us, we have taken on a difficult problem.” Regarding the pension reform issue that Representative Lee additionally brought up that day, he remained silent, saying, “We need to talk more through working-level discussions.”

Accordingly, there were complaints within the Democratic Party that “the President’s Office has virtually no intention of meeting.” Representative Lee is reported to have said at a private top level meeting, “I’m not sure if (President Yoon) is sincere.” An official from the party leadership said, “After President Yoon only took the form of a meeting with the Prime Minister, wasn’t he intending to throw the opposition into self-destruction by proposing to the opposition party to confirm the prime minister?”

The two sides decided to hold the second working-level meeting of the summit on the 25th. An official from the President’s Office said, “We heard a lot during the first meeting, and if there is anything we need, we will talk about it this time.” It has been reported that the likely date for the summit meeting will be sometime next week.

Reporter Dabin Yoon [email protected]
Reporter Lee Sang-heon [email protected]