DPK calls on Yoon to apologize for election defeat, meet DPK leader
The main oppostion Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung visits Seoul National Cemetery in Dongjak District, Seoul, April 12. Yonhap
Opposition lawmakers called on President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday to personally apologize for his party's defeat in this week's parliamentary elections and hold a meeting with opposition leader Lee Jae-myung.
The opposition bloc, led by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), won a landslide victory in Wednesday's elections, securing 192 seats against 108 seats won by the ruling People Power Party and its sister People Future Party in the 300-member National Assembly.
In a message issued through his chief of staff Thursday, Yoon said he would "humbly uphold the people's will shown in the general elections, reform state affairs and do my best for the economy and stabilization of people's livelihoods."
"It's hard to guess based on President Yoon's words after the elections what and how sincerely he plans to change," Rep. Kim Min-seok of the DPK said on a KBS radio show Friday. "Sharing his thoughts calmly before the people, and saying he will punish himself, is the starting point."
Rep. Min Hyung-bae of the DPK criticized Yoon on a CBS radio program, saying "the first thing he should do is to personally offer an apology for the judgment" passed by the people on his administration, not release a message through his chief of staff.
Lee Un-ju, a lawmaker-elect who won a seat in Yongin on the DPK ticket, echoed the sentiment.
"Before the start of the next National Assembly's term, the president should at least apologize and announce a road map for changing the principle of state affairs," she said on an MBC radio show. "There should also be a mass resignation by the Cabinet and a complete overhaul. It shouldn't stop at Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and several others expressing their intent to resign."
Han, presidential chief of staff Lee Kwan-sup and all the senior presidential secretaries have offered their resignations to Yoon in the wake of the election.
Yoon has also faced calls to hold what would be his first meeting with DPK leader Lee since taking office.
"President Yoon should recognize the opposition party as a partner and open the window to dialogue with the Democratic Party of Korea," Rep. Min said.
Rep. Kim Byung-joo of the DPK said Yoon should act differently from when he was his party's presidential candidate.
"Once you become president, you have to become the people's president and carry out a politics of unity and engagement," he said on a YTN radio program. (Yonhap)