The meeting between the PPP's floor leader Kweon Seong-dong and the DP's leader Lee Jae-myung also came after Lee's proposal last week to create a bipartisan consultative body to address the current political turmoil caused by Yoon's botched declaration of martial law earlier this month
Kweon, who also became the acting head of the conservative party after its former leader Han Dong-hoon resigned to take responsibility following Yoon's impeachment, said that the current crisis could be "overcome if the two parties work together on national security and people's livelihoods, rather than engaging in extreme political wrangling."
Lee also agreed, emphasizing the importance of collaborative efforts between the two parties to address the current crisis exacerbated by economic difficulties, proposing a supplementary budget to stabilize livelihoods. "With the president's duties suspended, instability is growing. All political parties must work together," he said.
"The PPP is facing tough times, but I hope you can weather through it with your strong leadership," Lee encouraged Kweon, who is his alumnus and with whom he studied for the bar exam during their university days.
Expressing concerns over the backlog of several pending impeachment cases against key officials including Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, Kweon also asked Lee to withdraw them.
Kweon pointed out that the Constitutional Court, which must deliberate Yoon's impeachment trial, already has dozens of other cases and asked how the court could manage them, stressing the need to drop such "politically motivated" cases in order to properly restore state affairs.
He also raised discussions about constitutional reform to change South Korea's five-year, single-term presidency, citing the country's turbulent political history marked by disgraced former presidents. "The time has come to reconsider whether the current presidential system is effective and to heed the growing calls for constitutional revisions," he urged.
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