South Korean President Park Geun-hye has proposed a meeting with representatives from rival political parties to debrief them on her recent trip to the United States, party officials said Monday.
They said Park has called for a session with heads of the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, and also floor leaders from the parties, at the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, to discuss the results from her summit with U.S. President Barack Obama.
The meeting could be held as early as Thursday.
According to the party officials, Hyun Ki-hwan, senior presidential secretary, visited both Kim Moo--sung, head of the Saenuri Party, and Moon Jae-in, leader of NPAD, at the National Assembly to discuss Park's proposal. Hyun told Kim and Moon that the president also wanted to urge the rival parties to pass outstanding bills at the parliament, the party officials added.
In response, NPAD has suggested a trilateral meeting involving Park and the two party leaders to also put the issue of the state-authored history textbooks on the table.
The planned publication of history texts written by government-designated authors has been a divisive hot potato in recent days.
A Saenuri official said the ruling party welcomed Park's proposal, but it was opposed to discussing history textbooks during the meeting, viewing it as an attempt by NPAD to turn the occasion into a political show.
Hyun, meanwhile, declined to comment on NPAD's proposal when reached by phone. (Yonhap)
