Representatives of South Korea's ruling party and largest opposition party scheduled to meet; will discussions on policy issues deepen?

South Korea's ruling party, People Power Party Chairman Han Dong-hoon, and the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party Chairman Lee Jae-myung, are expected to hold a meeting between the leaders.
The meeting was initially scheduled to take place on the 25th, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The meeting was postponed due to Lee's infection with COVID-19. According to Yonhap News, Han said at the party's Supreme Committee meeting, "Chairman Lee conveyed to us that it was unavoidable that the meeting would be postponed."
The meeting between the party leaders was held amid the intensifying conflict between the two parties and the urgent need for a "political revival." Will it be an opportunity to bridge the gap between the two parties and move politics forward?
The Democratic Party of Korea held a party convention on the 18th of this month and elected Lee as its leader.
The election was contested by combining votes from party members and opinion polls, with Lee winning with 85.4%. According to Yonhap News, it was the first time in 19 years that a leader of a party affiliated with the party had been re-elected.
This is the first time since former President Kim Dae-jung, who served as president of the National Congress for New Politics from 1995 to 2000, that Lee received the highest vote share in any presidential election to date.
In his speech after being elected, Lee said, "The greatest responsibility of politics is to support the lives of the people and create hope," and added, "
"We must now become a more effective party that takes responsibility for the people's lives in our own capacity," he said. Lee also spoke about his top-level meeting with President Yoon and the appointment of Han, the ruling People Power Party's vice president.
Han proposed a meeting between the party leaders and the representative. The meeting is expected to take place at the National Assembly after Han agreed. Due to Lee's COVID-19 infection, the meeting was postponed from the originally planned date of the 25th.
If the meeting is held, it will be the first time that the two men have set an agenda. The People Power Party also held a party convention on the 23rd of last month and elected Han as its party leader. Han was appointed as the head of the emergency response committee of the party in December last year.
Han was appointed chairman of the committee, but the party suffered a major defeat in the general election in April this year. "The will of the people is always right. On behalf of our party, we apologize to the people for not being worthy of being elected by the people," he said, apologizing.
With much attention focused on Han's future after stepping down from the political stage, he ran for party leadership and won a landslide victory with 62.8% of the votes.
In a speech after being elected as party leader, Han said, "Party members and the people have chosen change. We are now in line with the people's perspective.
"People think that we are not conducting proper politics," he said, calling on the government to "show that we are responsive to the feelings of the people and will change in line with their perspective."
Currently, the Democratic Party of Korea holds a majority of 170 seats in the South Korean National Assembly (300 seats), forcing the ruling party into a tough situation in running the country.
Cooperation from the opposition parties is essential. With the prospect of a meeting between the party leaders of Han and Lee expected, the South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo said, "Both the ruling and opposition parties have completed their internal reorganization and are now entering into a full-scale competition for the public's support.
"This is an opportunity for Representatives Han and Lee to demonstrate their ability to resolve political issues with the theme of people's livelihood," he said. If the meeting is held, the per capita tax bill recently passed by the opposition party will be revised.
It is expected that the bill to be discussed will include a bill to provide gift certificates worth 250,000 won (approximately 27,000 yen).
The ruling party recently exercised its right to request a second vote (veto), and the Democratic Party of Korea warned that the government would be criticized by the public for ignoring the difficulties facing the people's livelihood.
The Dong-A Ilbo reported positively on the prospect of a meeting between party leaders, but said, "The outlook for the outcome of the representative meeting is bright.
"It is true that it is not possible to hold talks with the president," the paper said. One of the reasons for this is that Han, as a member of the national government, is not in a position to make decisions that go against the president's will.
Among them is a bill related to the provision of gift certificates to citizens, which President Yoon vetoed as mentioned above. It has also been pointed out that there has been a considerable rift between Mr. Han and President Yoon for some time.
The paper pointed out that the tense atmosphere "may actually be an obstacle to discussions between the ruling and opposition parties." It added, "In the end, the ruling and opposition parties will be able to reform politics and build a foundation for cooperation.
The topic will likely be a summit between President Yoon and Chairman Lee, who hold power in the government and the National Assembly, respectively." The two men met once after the general election in April, but when Lee was re-elected as party chairman on the 18th, he met with Yoon.
He also proposed meeting with the president again.