Moon's new political aide starts off on the wrong foot

By Do Je-hae

Choi Jae-sung, President Moon Jae-in's new senior secretary for political affairs, is already stirring concerns over Cheong Wa Dae's sincerity toward cooperative politics.

Charged with a timely mission to improve relations with the National Assembly, Choi was took his current post during a recent reshuffle of the presidential office due to his strong ties with the President. But his first briefing at Cheong Wa Dae Monday has caused a rift with the main opposition United Future Party (UFP).

The former four-term lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) made remarks that were seen as blaming the UFP for the failure to arrange a meeting among the President and leaders of the ruling and opposition parties on Aug. 21 as suggested by Cheong Wa Dae.

“On Aug. 13, as the new senior secretary for political affairs, I delivered the President's intention to invite the party leaders during a courtesy call to Kim Chong-in, chairman of the UFP's emergency committee. But the UFP said that they were not able to accept the proposed date,” Choi said during a briefing, Monday.

It is rare for a presidential secretary to give a briefing on the reason for the failure of a proposed meeting.

During a meeting with the main opposition's interim leader, Choi reportedly suggested a three-way meeting among the President, DPK Chairman Lee Hae-chan and Kim.

But the UFP hit back at Choi's briefing some hours later, saying they had never received an official invitation.

“We have not received an official invitation from the presidential office,” UFP spokeswoman Rep. Kim Eun-hye said. “They make it seem as if it is our fault that the meeting was not achieved.”

The presidential office has received criticisms that the sudden proposal for talks was aimed at reversing the negative public sentiment toward the Moon administration and Cheong Wa Dae. Recent polls have shown that the job approval rating for the President has fallen below 40 percent amid various policy failures and unilateral pushes for contested bills.

But Choi stressed that the President has been and will always be open for communication with the opposition. “President Moon said in his opening speech at the Assembly on July 16 that he would expand communication with the National Assembly, including the resumption of a permanent consultative body on state affairs among the ruling and opposition parties and the government,” Choi said.

On Tuesday, Kim told a local daily that he would be willing to meet the President, but with conditions that he would meet the President exclusively, there should be detailed agenda items to discuss and the meeting needs to produce detailed achievements.

Choi then said, “It is very fortunate that the UFP leader has said that he could have a dialogue with the President as part of efforts to give hope to the people during these difficult times. We would like to start discussing the form and topics of the meeting with the UFP with an open mind.”

But Cheong Wa Dae did not elaborate whether it would accept the condition of an exclusive meeting.