President Roh Meets the Leaders of the Four Parties on October 25, 26 Consecutively

President Roh Moo-hyun will meet the leaders of the four parties consecutively as soon as he returns from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and discuss about current issues such as the confidence vote on him and the additional deployment of Korean forces to Iraq.

President Roh will meet Kim Jong-pil, the leader of the United Liberal Democrats, at 9 a.m. on October 25, the day after he arrives, and Kim One-ki, the chairman of the committee to prepare the United New Party for Participatory Citizens, at 10:30 a.m. on the same day. And on the next day, Roh will meet Park Sang-cheon, the chairman of the Millennium Democratic Party, at 10 a.m. and Choe Byung-yul, the chairman of the Grand National Party, at 2 p.m.

Lee Byung-wan, the senior presidential secretary for public affairs, said, “The main issue on the meetings will be to seek political breakthroughs among the leaders about the confidence vote on the president.” President Roh will make his stance understood by the leaders and persuade them to agree as he suggested on the administrative policy speech in the Parliament.”

“At the same meeting, the reports on the achievements of the summits, including the one with U.S., will be made and the dispatch of Korean forces to Iraq will also be discussed,” Secretary Lee added.

Ryu In-tae, the senior presidential secretary for political affairs, suggested the consecutive meetings to the four parties on the evening on October 20 and is negotiating about the details including the agendas with the parties.

Meanwhile, the Grand National Party is said to demand the complete reform of the administration, including a close examination into the scandal of Choi Do-sul, former presidential secretary for general affairs and President Roh’s close aide, and the reshuffling of the Cabinet into the all-nation Cabinet before the meeting. The Millennium Democratic Party will also request the withdrawal of the confidence vote decision because it violates the constitution. Because of these behaviors, the meeting is expected to provoke many debates.

Young-Hae Choi yhchoi65@donga.com