Both leaders need their own time

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Both leaders need their own time

Published: 27 Aug. 2024, 20:14

Kang Won-taek
The author is a professor of political science and international studies at Seoul National University.

I was intrigued to hear that the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties agreed to have a meeting. It has been a long time since I thought that true politics has disappeared, but I was still hopeful that the meeting between the two leaders would bring about some kind of change. I was disappointed that this summit was postponed due to Democratic Party (DP) Chairman Lee Jae-myung’s Covid-19 infection. It’s not clear if the meeting was delayed or canceled, but I hope it will be held soon since they reached an agreement to sit down for talks.

Although I attached significance to their meeting, I honestly didn’t have high expectations for the outcomes, mainly due to the format. Han Dong-hoon, chairman of the People Power Party (PPP), proposed that the summit be aired live. In an election campaign, broadcasting a TV debate live could be necessary to emphasize the importance of visions and pledges by each party or candidate and highlight their differences from opponents.

But in normal politics, the idea of covering a meeting between the ruling and opposition parties live means that they will only talk about themselves to their respective supporters rather than resolve political issues and differences through concessions and compromises. This is not much different from DP Chair Lee’s clumsy performance at the meeting with President Yoon Suk Yeol in April, when Lee simply read a prepared text in front of his counterpart.

PPP leader Han seems to show off his debating skills and logic through a live-aired meeting. Though he has become a politician, Han may still have in mind the debates he had with lawyers in the courtroom when he was a prosecutor. But this kind of meeting is not much different from gladiators’ duel, in which they fight for their lives in front of spectators in an amphitheater. If the Han-Lee meeting will be held this way, the outcome is pretty obvious. Instead of listening to their counterpart and trying to find a point of agreement, they would insist on their stances.

In fact, such open meetings, though not covered live, are destined to have similar outcomes. In the past, “behind-the-scenes politics” worked, where political leaders would meet separately in a quiet room to hear each other’s positions and resolve their differences, even though they had confronted each other in the National Assembly.

However, political leaders’ room for discretion has disappeared at some point, even in high-level talks between floor leaders.

In talks between countries, working-level officials coordinate agendas in advance, but what was not agreed to between them is often passed on to top leaders. The difficulty of reaching an agreement at the working-level meeting means that the issue is thorny, with multiple interests at stake, and can only be resolved by the leaders’ bold decisions.

Domestic politics are no different. But when every word of a leader is televised, a bold decision is often perceived as a unilateral concession or defeat, especially by hard-line followers. In such a situation, leaders have to make hard-line statements to please their followers rather than make efforts to narrow their differences.

During his lifetime, the late former President Kim Dae-jung advised politicians to “hold people’s hand and take half a step ahead.” This means leaders must pay attention to the will of the people. It also means that they must persuade the people and make decisions for the country despite their own supporters’ opposition.

For instance, Kim approved the plan to build the Park Chung Hee memorial despite oppositions by some of his supporters. But today, politicians try to court their staunch supporters and follow them passively instead of leading the way. As a result, politics has lost its role and politicians have become diminished.

I recommend that Han and Lee have a private meeting just between themselves even if it lasts for 30 minutes. In that meeting, they must talk candidly and try to understand each other’s positions. The agendas should not be too specific, but must include a number of contentious issues. Even if concrete results are not achieved after one summit, the resonance of such a meeting will be notable. I hope the meeting will not end up as a photo opportunity, but an chance to restore politics.

Also, the DP boycotted the recent Liberation Day ceremony to protest the president’s appointment of the head of the Independence Hall of Korea. Even if there is a problem, what is Liberation Day for the country? That day, the DP looked like an unruly boy who didn’t show up for his parents’ funerals because he was upset after a dispute with a sibling. If you are going to govern a country, you must respect people, even if you don’t like it.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.