Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Inter-Korean Assembly summit challenges ruling party
Rep. Lee Hae-chan, left, leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the co-head of a delegation to Pyongyang for an inter-Korean event to celebrate the anniversary of a 2007 summit, listens as the North's Kim Yong-dae, vice chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly speaks during a gathering of political figures from the two Koreas at the Koryo Hotel, Pyongyang, Friday. / Yonhap
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won, Joint Press Corps
As a first-ever inter-Korean legislative summit is being discussed amid the growing mood of rapprochement on the peninsula, the ruling party must persuade the opposition parties to participate.
Ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) leader Lee Hae-chan, who led a South Korean delegation to Pyongyang from Oct. 4 to 6 with Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, said Friday after meeting his counterparts that “the inter-Korean legislative summit will likely occur this year even though the opposition parties are against it. There is no big difference between the two Koreas on holding this event.”
Lee added that, “We talked with vice chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly Ahn Dong-chun and agreed in general to hold the legislative summit.”
The two Koreas held their first joint celebration of the anniversary of a 2007 summit, in Pyongyang Friday. On the sideline of the event, the South's ruling party and the North's legislative leaders agreed to hold the summit this year.
About 160 South Koreans, including politicians, civic and religious group members and cultural figures, took part in the celebration held at the People's Palace of Culture to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the second inter-Korean summit on Oct. 4, 2007, which was held between then-South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Lee went to the North also as the leader of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation along with other members from the DPK, the Party for Democracy, and the Peace and Justice Party.
Based on the level of discussion between the two Koreas' political officials and unprecedented rosy inter-Korean relations, there is a greater possibility of the meeting to take place compared to the past. The North has been asking for fast ratification of inter-Korean agreements at the South's National Assembly, something the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), which didn't go to Pyongyang, is opposed to due to a lack of details on the North's denuclearization. The ruling party therefore faces hurdles to convince the opposition, even though the DPK can push for the summit on its own.
LKP spokesman Yoon Young-seok criticized the ruling party's trip and Lee's remarks made in Pyongyang saying, “The DPK's intention to abolish the National Security Act is inappropriate, and we suspect that Lee has certain political intentions.”
Talks between the two Koreas for the inter-Korean legislative summit have emerged regularly following instances of rapprochement on the peninsula, but have never materialized due to political confrontation.