[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] According to political circles, the ruling party, the People Power Party, and the Prime Minister's Office recently announced, "Please use the term 당정 (Dangjeong) instead of 당정대 (Dangjeongdae) in the meeting name." This is analyzed as part of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's efforts to remove authoritarian connotations from terms related to the president and the presidential office, following the summit meetings.
On the 3rd, according to the Prime Minister's Office and political circles, the Prime Minister's Office informed the press corps on the 1st about Prime Minister Han Duck-soo's high-level 당정 (Dangjeong) council schedule, requesting cooperation by stating, "Please use 당정 (Dangjeong) (not 당정대 (Dangjeongdae))."
Prior to this, the People Power Party also sent a group text message to the press corps on the 30th of last month, stating, "Some reports use the term 당정대 (Dangjeongdae), but the correct term is 당정 협의회 (Dangjeong Council), so please cooperate in using the correct terminology."
The rationale is that since the president is the head of the executive branch, it is inappropriate to separate the government and the presidential office in terminology. In particular, it appears to reflect President Yoon's intention that the presidential office should not domineer over the government like a monarch, and that a responsible prime minister system should be implemented, granting the prime minister practical authority over government operations.
A ruling party official said, "Since the president is the head of the executive branch, I believe it is inappropriate to separate the government and the presidential office."
There is also an argument that the term 당정 협의회 (Dangjeong Council) is correct when looking at government regulations related to meeting names. According to Article 703 of the Prime Minister's Ordinance, a council jointly chaired by the prime minister and the ruling party leader is called a ‘High-level 당정협의회 (Dangjeong Council).’ The basic attendees of the meeting include heads of related ministries, agencies, offices, and committees appointed by the prime minister, ruling party floor leaders, policy committee chairs, and party officials appointed by the ruling party leader.
However, until recently, when officials from the presidential secretariat attended, it was evaluated that the meeting results carried more weight, and thus presidential secretariat officials always participated, leading to the use of the term ‘당정청 (Dangjeongcheong).’
It is analyzed that the presidential office and the government are gradually removing authoritarian connotations from terms related to the president and the presidential office. The presidential office also pointed out the term ‘영수회담 (Yeongsu Meeting),’ which refers to a meeting between the president and leaders of the ruling and opposition parties to discuss national policy directions. At the end of May, when the ruling and opposition parties were negotiating the details of the supplementary budget (추경, Chugyeong), then Democratic Party co-emergency committee chairman Yoon Ho-jung proposed a 영수회담 (Yeongsu Meeting) between the party leaders and the president.
In response, the presidential office stated, "The term 영수회담 (Yeongsu Meeting) is an outdated term from the era when the president also served as the de facto head of the ruling party," and added, "Please note that the president does not consider himself a 영수 (Yeongsu)."
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