Yoon and PPP leader Han only check differences in opinions and leave meeting empty handed

President Yoon Suk-yeol (upper right) and People’s Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon (center) hold a meeting at the presidential office in Seoul on October 21. Courtesy of presidential office

President Yoon Suk-yeol and the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon met on October 21 to discuss the ruling party’s solution to the current political situation. Han conveyed reform measures to Yoon, including suspension of outside activities, personnel changes in the presidential office, and appointment of a special inspector general in connection with the allegations of First Lady Kim Keon-hee, but Yoon reportedly did not accept Han’s demands at all. The meeting was merely a confirmation of the differences in their opinions, leading observers to speculate that the conflict between the ruling party and government could deteriorate into a confrontation between them.

The presidential office said Yoon and Han met for 81 minutes from 4:54 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. at the Pine Grass reception hall at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul. The two only confirmed their disagreements over the core agenda. Park Chung-ha, chief secretary of the PPP leader, said at a National Assembly briefing that Han delivered three kinds of demands to the president. First, Han conveyed the need for drastic changes and reforms to address the worsening public sentiment and public opinion. Secondly, he directly proposed to Yoon the acceptance of the three demands related to the first lady (personnel changes in the presidential office, suspension of outside activities, and explanation and resolution of suspicions) and the appointment of a special inspector general. In addition, Han expressed the need to launch a consultative body consisting of political parties, the government, and medical community as soon as possible. Han also prepared a red document file with these proposals.

“(Han told Yoon) that he supports the government’s reform policies and foreign and security policies and that the ruling party will actively support them,” Park said, adding, “It is necessary to preemptively resolve burdensome issues to gain momentum for reform.” Asked about Yoon’s response, Park said, “I can’t answer that. It’s better to check with Yongsan to see if there is a consensus or the presidential office’s reaction or words.”

According to a report by Kyunghyang Shinmun, Yoon refuted Han’s demands outright. To sum up the phone interviews with the PPP’s senior officials and others, Yoon responded to Kim’s demand to stop the first lady’s activities by saying, “She is already refraining from outside activities. Isn’t this enough? It will be all right when the Office of the First Lady creates.” Regarding a bill mandating a special counsel investigation into Kim, Yoon called it “unconstitutional” and replied to the demand for personnel reshuffling, saying, “There is nothing to be done. I will never do it.” A PPP official said in a phone interview, “I think the president’s response was sour. It’s not unreasonable to say that he didn’t accept anything.” The official added, “They were supposed to meet at 4:30 p.m., and not only Yoon was late but he also had an appointment at 6 p.m., which was enough to make Han feel that Yoon was reluctant to attend the meeting.”

On the other hand, an official from the presidential office said, “The atmosphere was good for an hour and 20 minutes.” The official also said, “They agreed on the need to unite the government and the ruling party to stop the violation of the constitution and contribute to the success of the government,” adding, ”Their faces were bright as they entered and left the meeting hall.”

Yoon started the meeting and called Han “our leader Han Dong-hoon,” the presidential office said in a statement. An iced americano was prepared for Yoon and zero coke for Han.

Han is looking to shift the balance of power after the victory in the October 16 by-election. The day after the election, he presented three demands related to the controversy over the first lady to the presidential office. Shin Ji-ho, a close aide of Han, said that if the presidential office does not accept Han’s demands, there could be more defection votes during the re-vote process, including on a special counsel investigation bill for Kim. A ruling party official said, “Isn’t Han trying to grow politically by differentiating himself from Yoon?” and added, “It is a structure in which their opinions cannot be agreed from the beginning.” Another PPP official said, “If the situation turns out like this, Han may behave completely like the opposition.”

While Han is pushing and Yoon is holding out, the odds are stacked against the president. According to a Real Meter survey of 2,510 adults nationwide at the request of the Energy Economic Daily between October 14 and 18 (a sample error of ±2.0 percentage points on the 95 percent confidence level), Yoon’s approval rating for his presidential performance was at a record low of 24.1 percent.

The opposition party criticized that “the public’s last expectations were ignored coldly.” Cho Seung-rae, chief spokesperson of the l Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), said in a briefing that “the meeting could only be judged as an incommunicado interview that failed to make a single step forward on the issue of the first lady.” Regarding Han, he said, “The only judgment left for Han is to choose whether he wants codestruction with Yoon. I hope Han will keep in mind that it is the voice of the people, not the president’s hand, which he needs to hold.”

Kim Bo-hyup, a senior spokesperson for the Rebuilding Korea Party, issued a commentary and said, “Yoon could not have found any solution without his wife Kim Keon-hee, the ‘mastermind’ and decision maker of the president.” Kim Sung-yeol, a senior spokesperson for the Reform Party, said, “It is time to abandon our futile hope and set the law and principles straight through a special counsel investigation.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.