By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff Reporter

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said Thursday that President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack Obama failed to make any progress on issues since their last meeting in June.

Commenting on the Lee-Obama summit in Seoul, DP spokesman Noh Young-min said, "It rather appears that President Lee took a step backward on the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), especially over automobiles."

After the summit, Lee told reporters that he is willing to renegotiate automobile provisions in the FTA if it is necessary to get the agreement ratified.
The FTA has yet to be ratified by the legislative branches of both countries.

"Unfortunately, the two leaders did nothing, except for checking each other's basic positions," Noh said.

The minor opposition Liberty Forward Party (LFP) also expressed their strong disappointment over the summit.

"It was like looking at an abstract painting," said Park Sun-young, spokeswoman of the LFP. "It was full of rhetoric. They failed to mention any specific plans."
However, the reaction of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) was dramatically different.

The GNP argued that the summit not only helped Seoul reaffirm its strong alliance with Washington, but also established a strong foundation to resolve the nuclear standoff.

"Based on the trust that the two leaders have built through their past three meetings, they have produced fruitful outcomes on major pending issues on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia," said GNP spokesman Cho Hae-jin.

Also, Rep. Chung Ok-nim of the GNP praised the outcome of the meeting, noting that Obama expressed his support for Seoul's "Grand Bargain" proposal.

President Lee denounced the comprehensive deal in September, offering the North economic and political incentives, including a security guarantee, in exchange for the reclusive regime's irreversibly dismantlement of its nuclear weapons programs.

leeth@koreatimes.co.kr