Ruling and Opposition Parties Pledge Bipartisan Cooperation on Middle East Crisis... Unprecedented Joint Review Meeting with Government Held

Han Byungdo: "Regular Meetings Every Monday"

Song Eonseok: "Prepare for Stagflation, Beware of Populist Supplementary Budgets"

On April 16, the leadership of both the ruling and opposition parties held an emergency review meeting with the government to address and overcome the situation in the Middle East. The two parties drew attention by expressing their willingness for bipartisan cooperation in light of the ongoing crisis.

At the National Assembly, floor leaders Han Byungdo of the Democratic Party of Korea and Song Eonseok of the People Power Party, as well as policy chiefs Han Jeongae of the Democratic Party and Jeong Jeomsik of the People Power Party, attended the meeting along with government representatives, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun and Minister for Government Policy Coordination Yoon Changyeol. The meeting, titled "Emergency Review Meeting of Floor Leaders on Response and Overcoming of the Middle East Situation," marked a rare occasion where the leadership of both parties convened with government officials for a joint review.

Regarding this meeting, Floor Leader Han commented, "During the 1997 foreign exchange crisis, both the then-ruling New Korea Party and the opposition New Politics National Coalition and United Liberal Democrats fiercely competed ahead of the presidential election, yet stood together to protect the nation. During the 2008 financial crisis and the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 as well, the ruling and opposition parties set a precedent of responding to fiscal and financial challenges separately from political strife." He added, "Today is another such moment."

Yonhap News Agency

He continued, "This is the first time that the floor leadership of both parties has directly received a briefing from the government and conducted a joint review," emphasizing, "We are determined to respond to the current crisis as a matter of shared responsibility for national governance, focusing on the livelihoods of the people rather than partisan conflict." He added, "The floor leaders of both parties have agreed to meet regularly every Monday. We will jointly review the situation as it develops and swiftly enact any necessary legislative or budgetary measures."

Floor Leader Song assessed the significance of the parties coming together and called for a change in the government's response. He said, "Fundamentally, we need to correct our diagnosis of the crisis," explaining, "There are concerns that this crisis phase is not just a simple economic downturn but a vicious cycle of low growth and high inflation, marking the onset of stagflation." He went on, "I worry that the government may be diagnosing the situation solely as an economic downturn and relying only on populist cash handout supplementary budgets. Efforts must be made to minimize the side effects of such populist cash handout supplementary budgets."

He further stated, "In particular, the government should intensively monitor price trends, closely observe the bond market, and prepare measures to stabilize the exchange rate." Floor Leader Song stressed, "All-out efforts should be made to establish a foundation for exchange rate stabilization."

Additionally, Floor Leader Song called for a comprehensive review of energy price policies that distort the market, such as the oil price ceiling system, arguing, "Price controls only distort the market and serve as temporary measures that increase the fiscal burden." He also criticized measures such as the odd-even vehicle operation system and five-day rotation driving restrictions as "typical examples of desk-bound administration and blanket regulations," stating, "These measures impose significant inconvenience on the public without any proper compensation system in place." Floor Leader Song concluded, "The People Power Party is willing to cooperate with the government and the ruling party for the sake of the nation and the national interest," and strongly urged, "I call on the ruling party to listen attentively to the voices of the opposition."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.