Yoon, ruling party leadership take flak over ‘meaningless’ dinner

Tuesday's dinner between President Yoon Suk Yeol and the ruling party leadership, including Chair Han Dong-hoon, sparked criticism from both sides of the partisan divide on Wednesday, with critics pointing to the absence of meaningful discussions at the event.

There was no fixed agenda for the dinner meeting, but they were widely expected to discuss issues such as the country's deepening medical crisis, caused by the monthslong walkout of thousands of junior doctors protesting the government's decision in February to increase the medical school admissions quota by 2,000.

The 90-minute dinner covered issues such as relations between the ruling and opposition parties and Yoon’s recent visit to the Czech Republic, according to the presidential office. However, the delayed formation of a four-way consultative body -- to include Yoon's office, the ruling and main opposition parties as well as the medical community -- suggested by Han earlier this month to tackle the continued medical crisis, alongside a special counsel probe bill investigating multiple allegations against first lady Kim Keon Hee, were not discussed.

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Wednesday denounced the dinner as “futile,” calling for Yoon and the ruling party leadership to swiftly tackle urgent issues including the special counsel probe bill targeting the first lady. The bill was passed by the opposition-led National Assembly last week, as an updated version of one previously vetoed by Yoon in January.

“The dinner was a futile event with meaningless results that even People Power Party lawmakers reportedly say they are embarrassed to talk about,” Han Min-soo, spokesperson for the Democratic Party said in a Wednesday briefing. “We cannot believe that the president and the ruling party leader would conclude such a dinner by dining on meat and wishing each other well. Why did they hold a dinner when the people are devastated by soaring food prices and how will they deal with the special counsel probe bills on first lady Kim Keon Hee and the death of the Marine that passed the Assembly?”

People Power Party lawmakers were divided on the dinner, with the pro-Han faction claiming that a one-on-one private meeting between Han and Yoon, as requested by the current ruling party chair, should have taken place instead. That meeting did not materialize, after the presidential office said the dinner would be focused on encouraging the new ruling party leadership.

The pro-Yoon faction undermined such claims, saying that Han had "several opportunities" to bring up pressing issues at the dinner table.

People Power Party Rep. Kim Chong-hyuk, a Supreme Council member and a well-known pro-Han faction member, highlighted the gap in views on key issues in a Wednesday CBS radio interview.

"With respect to the medical reform, the party views it as a very serious situation, whereas the presidential office appears to think it should merely be pushed ahead because it's a reform plan," he said.

Regarding the special counsel probe into Yoon's wife, Rep. Kim said that the party believes "fundamental measures" should be rolled out. But the presidential office thinks the party should undertake defensive steps based on the belief the allegations against the first lady are false, according to him.

People Power Party Rep. Kim Jae-won, another member of the Supreme Council, said in a separate MBC radio interview on Wednesday that Han had "sufficient opportunities" to discuss urgent matters with Yoon.

"Han had sufficient opportunities to discuss the matters with the president. It seemed that Han himself decided not to bring it up at the table," the member of the pro-Yoon faction within the party said.

Han on Wednesday afternoon told reporters that the dinner was part of the process of building a solid communication channel between the presidential office and the ruling party.

"The outcome of the dinner was that (we were all able to) dine together. How about we look at it as a process of (building a communication channel)," he said, while reiterating the need to initiate a private one-on-one meeting with Yoon.

On concerns of a possible conflict between the ruling party and the presidential office, Han denied the existence of a rift, saying that "politics is a way of finding a good solution (to improve) the livelihoods of the people through discussions and this is part of that process."