2 weeks ago
- South Korea’s guidance leader has capitalized connected his party’s caller predetermination triumph to unit President Yoon Suk Yeol into accepting typical investigations into allegations involving apical officials and his wife.
- Yoon initiated nan gathering amid mounting unit to cooperate pinch nan Democratic Party pursuing their triumph successful nan parliamentary election.
- Lee Jae-myung voiced nan value of respecting nan National Assembly and viewing nan guidance arsenic a authorities partner.
Emboldened by his party’s caller predetermination win, South Korea’s guidance leader pressured President Yoon Suk Yeol to judge typical investigations into allegations involving apical officials and his wife, arsenic they met Monday for talks connected bipartisan cooperation.
The gathering was their first since Yoon took agency successful 2022 aft defeating Lee Jae-myung successful nan country’s closest statesmanlike predetermination race. During their 2022 campaigns, Yoon, Lee and their supporters demonized each different and revenge dozens of lawsuits against 1 another.
Yoon projected nan gathering arsenic he faces increasing calls to cooperate pinch Lee’s Democratic Party, whose triumph successful nan April 10 parliamentary predetermination allows it to widen its power of nan single-chamber National Assembly until aft Yoon’s azygous five-year word ends successful 2027.
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In his lengthy opening remarks, Lee said nan predetermination results mean "the people’s stern request for correcting incorrect authorities administrations," addressing economical troubles and restoring antiauthoritarian rules.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, shakes hands pinch main guidance Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung during a gathering astatine nan statesmanlike agency successful Seoul, South Korea, connected April 29, 2024. (Hong Hae-in/Yonhap via AP)
Lee urged Yoon to judge independent probes into nan 2022 Halloween crush successful Seoul that killed 159 people, and nan 2023 decease of a marine who drowned during a search-and-rescue cognition for flood victims. Lee’s statement has accused Yoon of ignoring nationalist demands and retaining apical officials and subject commanders responsible for nan deadly incidents.
Lee besides asked Yoon to resoluteness "diverse suspicions involving his family" that "poses a large load connected authorities operations." That was apparently a reference to first woman Kim Keon Hee, who faces an allegation of engagement successful a banal value manipulation and different scandals.
"I’d opportunity it would beryllium bully for you, arsenic president, to respect nan National Assembly and see nan guidance statement arsenic a partner for authorities operations," Lee said.
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While listening to Lee's statement, Yoon nodded respective times and said he had expected Lee to make specified comments but didn’t elaborate.
In a briefing aft nan meeting, elder statesmanlike advisor Lee Do-woon said that Yoon told Lee that he won’t reason a typical rule to analyse nan Halloween deaths but noted immoderate imaginable ineligible concerns complete an ad-hoc investigation committee. He didn’t mention Yoon’s responses to demands for different probes.
During nan meeting, Lee besides asked Yoon to judge his contentious thought of nan authorities giving astir $180 to each South Koreans arsenic a measurement to boost the economy, a measurement that Yoon’s statement has called a populist measure. Lee Do-woon, nan statesmanlike adviser, said Yoon said that he prefers selectively supporting those successful need.
In a abstracted briefing, Democratic Party spokesperson Park Sung-joon accused Yoon of lacking nan resoluteness to revive nationalist livelihoods. Park cited Lee arsenic suggesting he was disappointed astatine nan meeting’s results though nan commencement of nonstop connection pinch Yoon would still beryllium meaningful.
No statement was reached, but Yoon’s agency said nan president and Lee agreed to meet often without mounting a day for their adjacent meeting.
In 1 affirmative news for bipartisan cooperation, Lee told Yoon that his statement would support nan government’s high-stakes push to summation aesculapian schoolhouse students, which prompted thousands of young doctors to locomotion retired of nan occupation successful February. The authorities precocious suggested it’s unfastened to halving its target aesculapian schoolhouse enrollment summation to 1,000 per twelvemonth from nan antecedently projected 2,000, but doctors opportunity they can’t judge immoderate summation successful students.
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Yoon has said South Korea needs to create much doctors arsenic it has 1 of nan world’s astir quickly aging populations and its doctors-to-patient ratio is among nan lowest successful precocious economies. Doctors opportunity schools can’t woody pinch a excessively steep summation successful students, but critics opportunity they simply interest nan proviso of much doctors would yet consequence successful lowering their income.
The parliamentary predetermination was seen arsenic a litmus trial of Yoon, who has been struggling pinch debased support standing and an opposition-controlled parliament that has constricted his argumentation schedule since his inauguration. Critics opportunity nan predetermination conclusion was mostly attributable to nan government’s nonaccomplishment to suppress rising prices and different economical problems and Yoon’s individual guidance and activity styles.
Despite nan predetermination defeat, Yoon’s awesome foreign policy agendas will apt stay unchanged arsenic they mostly don’t require parliamentary endorsements. Yoon has pushed difficult to boost trilateral practice pinch nan United States and Japan to header pinch North Korea’s evolving atomic threats and different challenges.
