Bilateral concession needed for first meeting

For a successful meeting, both sides must find agendas they can agree to rather than sticking with political battles.

The lead-up to the meeting between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung is tumultuous. Hong Chul-ho, the president’s newly appointed senior secretary for political affairs, again met with his DP counterpart on Thursday to set the agenda for their bosses’ meeting, but made no progress. The DP expressed regrets over the presidential office’s lukewarm response to a number of its demands.

Given the standoff between Yoon and Lee over the past two years, it would be unusual if their representatives could smoothly prepare for their first face-to-face meeting since Yoon got elected as president two years ago. The two leaders still harbor deep antipathy toward the other.

Nevertheless, both leaders must have an open-minded meeting in order to set the foundation for co-governance in the next National Assembly after the PPP’s crushing defeat in the April 10 parliamentary elections. First of all, the DP must refrain from arrogant behavior after being intoxicated by its landslide election victory.

The opposition is making tough demands — such as a presidential apology for Yoon’s repeated veto of the DP-proposed bills; his acceptance of the DP’s plan to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the suspicious death of a Marine on a rescue mission; and the president’s endorsement of its request for a 13-trillion-won ($9.46-billion) supplement budget to help ease people’s economic pains. But the presidential office can hardly accept all the requests. For instance, controversy has already erupted over the effectiveness of the DP’s proposal to offer 250,000 won in cash to every citizen, not to mention concerns about fueling inflation and worsening fiscal health.

We hope the presidential office also takes a step back to break the deadlock. Without support from the majority party, the Yoon administration will remain in a vegetative state for the remaining three years. When the president makes concessions, he can get cooperation from the opposition. Over the DP’s push for a special probe of the Marine’s suspicious death, even PPP members, though not a majority, accept the inevitability of a special investigation.

For a successful meeting, both sides must find agendas they can agree to rather than sticking with political battles. A number of livelihood bills are waiting for deliberations by the two parties. If they can find a breakthrough in the medical crisis from doctors’ walkout to protest the government’s unilateral push to increase medical school enrollment, it will certainly help resolve the meltdown. Voters gave overwhelming support to the DP, but the support stopped short of allowing the opposition to do whatever it wants.