After his meeting with President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday, opposition leader Moon Jae-in said it was a meaningful occasion to allow him to know about Park’s thoughts and let the president listen to his views.
Their talks, joined by ruling Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung, lasted nearly two hours, far longer than the originally scheduled one hour.
Park and Moon focused their discussion on key tasks related to reinvigorating the economy and improving people’s livelihoods. It was desirable for them to put aside more divisive political issues during their first encounter in more than two years since they faced off at a TV debate in the 2012 presidential election.
Moon, who lost the closely contested election to Park, came to the forefront of the political stage last month by taking the helm of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy.
During Tuesday’s talks, Park called for bipartisan cooperation in backing up her administration’s efforts to boost the economy and people’s livelihoods. Moon promised to cooperate if necessary. However, he criticized the economic policies pursued by the Park administration for failing to settle problems with everyday life and suggested a long list of measures that he said should be taken to address what he described as a “total crisis.”
Not surprisingly, their meeting produced few substantial results, except for an agreement to reform the public pension system by the end of April as planned. Still, it was meaningful for Moon to take a positive stance on resolving the thorny matter by committing to abide by the deadline for consultations. Finishing the work to overhaul the public pension scheme over vehement objections from civil servants would help facilitate other key reform tasks necessary to boost the country’s competitiveness and growth potential.
It also seems possible to narrow and overcome remaining differences between the president and the opposition leader over taxation and other policies through continuous consultations. In this regard, it was appropriate for Park to accept a request from the two main political party leaders to hold talks on a regular basis.
As Moon said after Tuesday’s meeting, more frequent scenes of the president meeting the opposition leader to discuss state affairs would help give the people hope for their future. At least, they would reduce or be free of criticism that divisive partisan politics was hampering efforts to revive the economy and thus holding back the nation from advancing forward.
Park and the political leaders need to go further beyond holding talks on a regular basis and meet whenever necessary. Besides economic tasks, they should show a coordinated stance on crucial diplomatic and security challenges facing the nation.
