President Lee Jae-myung Questions TK's Regional Fairness Amid Busan Bill Push

President Lee Jae-myung and leaders from the ruling and opposition parties held a ruling-opposition-government livelihood economy consultative body meeting on the 7th. Democratic Party leader Chung Cheong-rae and People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk attended, and the meeting, which included a public session and a private luncheon, lasted for approximately two hours.

During the meeting, People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk and floor leader Song Eon-seok repeatedly proposed the passage of the Busan Global Hub Special Act (a special law for the economic development of the Busan region), both in their opening remarks and during the closed-door session. President Lee responded by asking, "Then what about the Daegu-Gyeongbuk (TK) region?" raising issues of regional equity. Democratic Party senior spokesperson Kang Jun-hyun said in a briefing immediately after the meeting, "The President asked, 'Then what about TK?', and did not say anything further," interpreting it as a nuance that while not rejecting the bill's passage, he hoped for balanced development across regions like Daejeon, Chungnam, and Daegu-Gyeongbuk. Conversely, People Power Party senior spokesperson Choi Bo-yoon stated in a separate briefing that "President Lee expressed a negative stance," leading to differing interpretations of the same remark by the two parties. President Lee had previously expressed similar concerns at a Cabinet meeting on March 31st, stating, "If we create a special law only for Busan, what about Daejeon, Gwangju, and others? If we introduce bills for every area that needs it, it could burden the government," suggesting a consistent apprehension about special treatment for specific regions.

The most prominent disagreement identified during the meeting was over a proposed parliamentary inquiry into alleged manipulation of indictments. People Power Party floor leader Song proposed postponing the inquiry, citing the Middle East conflict, but Democratic Party leader Chung Cheong-rae clearly opposed this. Spokesperson Kang stated, "Leader Chung firmly clarified his position," and Spokesperson Choi also confirmed, "The Democratic Party took a hardline stance," revealing that the gap between their positions had not narrowed.

Discussions on constitutional revision also saw a repetition of existing stances. President Lee requested in the private luncheon that the People Power Party seriously consider strengthening the conditions for declaring martial law and enhancing local autonomy. However, the People Power Party reaffirmed its party line opposing constitutional revision pursued concurrently with local elections. Leader Jang proposed that President Lee preemptively declare his abandonment of the two-term presidential limit and re-election, a request to which the Blue House avoided an immediate response. In a separate notice, the Blue House countered some accounts by stating, "President Lee replied that it is impossible to amend and pass the currently announced constitutional amendment proposal, and it is also not feasible given the opposition party holds enough seats to block it."

Although this meeting was the first held since President Lee and party leaders agreed to establish the consultative body in September last year, no separate joint statement was adopted. Regarding the absence of a joint statement, spokesperson Kang assessed, "There was a common understanding that we should hold such meetings more frequently going forward," and described it as "meaningful as the first step towards cooperation and collaboration between the ruling party, opposition parties, and the government."