By Kang Hyun-kyung
A two-hour meeting Monday between President Lee Myung-bak and Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), reflected a deep-rooted split between conservatives and liberals.
At the end of their breakfast meeting held at the presidential office, they adopted a six-point joint statement agreeing to deal with household debt, corruption at savings banks, job creation and reducing college tuition.
Despite this, their stark differences in two key agenda items — the ratification of a trade pact with the United States and an additional budget — remained unchanged.
Lee and Sohn apparently had differences over the parliamentary approval of the trade pact and the need for a supplementary budget to finance tuition cuts and create jobs.
Their differences mirrored the deep-rooted split between conservatives and liberals, despite the general shift in the domestic political arena towards slightly left of the center. Both the ruling Grand National Party(GNP) and opposition parties have been calling for bold measures to reduce college tuition and improve people’s lives, as the nation heads toward crucial elections next year.
Like the DP, liberals were opposed to the approval of the free trade pact as there will be victims such as farmers and service sector workers who are expected to lose out if the agreement gets the green light.
The DP and three other opposition parties are demanding that government negotiators sit down again with their U.S. counterparts to revise parts of the agreement.
President Lee told Sohn a renegotiation would mean that Seoul doesn’t want the free trade pact with the United States, in response to the chairman’s words.
The negotiators of Korea and the United States had earlier modified some areas, including those affecting the auto industry, after they reached an agreement in 2007. Like President Lee, conservatives, including the GNP, felt no further need to fix the trade pact and are instead pushing for the ratification of the deal. They said the nation will benefit from the accord as it will facilitate more trade between the two nations.
The trade motion is pending at the parliaments of the two countries. To be effective, lawmakers of the two nations must ratify the pact and the Presidents of the two countries must sign it to make it law.
Lee and Sohn share the view that tuition cuts are necessary, but they differed on how to go about doing it.
The DP leader called for additional funding to finance the tuition cuts and provide supportive measures for households suffering from income losses resulting from a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.
But Lee disagreed, noting an additional budget cannot be formed for these reasons.
The two leaders did reach a consensus on four items, including plans to fight household debt and preventing corruption involving savings banks. They also agreed to work together to create jobs and narrow the income disparity between permanent and temporary workers.
The Lee-Sohn meeting took place nearly three years after Lee sat down with Sohn’s predecessor Rep. Chung Sye-kyun in September 2008.
The governing camp and the DP largely expressed satisfaction over the meeting. But the three opposition parties, including the Liberty Forward Party, said the two sides came together for the sake of a meeting, arguing that they failed to make progress on key items.
Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik presided over a meeting Monday night of officials from the ruling party, the government and the presidential office to discuss follow up measures.