The geopolitical situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula is changing rapidly in the wake of the historic third inter-Korean summit between Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un in the truce village of Panmunjeom, April 27, and ahead of a tete-a-tete between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump to be held later this month or in early June.
It is not that easy to anticipate what will come in the final stages of the surprisingly rapid developments. The two Koreas are certainly seeing a golden opportunity for permanent peace and common prosperity.
What's taking place in this part of the world may change the flow of world history. Yet, to our great regret, our representatives, namely the National Assembly members, appear to be living in a different world at this juncture.
Being obsessed with political and partisan interests only, the lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties are wasting time without opening a main session of the extraordinary Assembly sitting for the whole month of April.
The Assembly has already been an undisputed target of public criticism and fury for its incompetence and never-ending partisan feuds at the cost of precious tax money. Lawmakers really have a lot of work to do to cope with the rapidly changing situation.
Needless to say, they should sit together immediately and set aside partisanship and ideology to tackle the issues related to the nation's fate. Politics mean dialogue and compromise. They ought to seek mutually acceptable terms through dialogue and compromise. Otherwise, they should be held accountable for neglecting their given duties.
The ruling party should be more flexible as the majority force on the floor, while the minority parties need to stop hitherto criticism for the sake of criticism and to evaluate the results of the inter-Korean summit from a historical point of view.