The newly elected governing party floor leader on Tuesday vowed to uphold his party’s past promises with the opposition, hinting that he wanted to take a cooperative approach toward his parliamentary rivals.
Saenuri Party Rep. Yoo Seong-min and Rep. Won Yoo-chul, the party policy committee chair, visited the chiefs of the opposition parties, pledging to continue talks over possible constitutional amendments and an anticorruption bill.
Yoo was elected as the party’s floor leader on Monday, after defeating four-term Saenuri Rep. Lee Ju-young in an in-house vote. He replaces Rep. Lee Wan-koo who was nominated as the next prime minister on Jan. 23 for his reputation as a moderate mediator on divisive partisan issues.
The floor leader oftentimes functions as the unofficial party whip, and as the party’s lead negotiator on controversial legislations with the opposition in South Korea’s National Assembly.
On Tuesday, Yoo appeared to continue much of Lee’s diplomatic approach toward the opposition. He met Rep. Sim Sang-jung of the minor opposition Justice Party, and Reps. Woo Yoon-keun, Ahn Gyu-baek, and Baek Jae-hyun of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy.
They agreed to leave final debates on the Kim Young-ran bill to lawmakers on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee where the bill is pending. The draft law proposes to punish public officials if they receive gifts worth more than 1 million won ($911).
Yoo and his NPAD counterparts also agreed to continue negotiations on a constitutional amendment. The proposed revisions aim to limit the president’s power over internal affairs such as nominating members of the Cabinet and the Constitutional Court.
The issue has been a political hot potato with President Park Geun-hye and some members of the Saenuri Party refusing to even discuss it. The opposition has fiercely demanded reforms, saying the president enjoys “imperialistic” powers under the Constitution.
By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)
