Ruling and Opposition Parties Struggle to Narrow Differences in Negotiations on Unification Church Special Counsel and Coupang Hearing

Ruling and Opposition Floor Leaders Hold 2+2 Closed-Door Meeting, Reach No Agreement
Plenary Session Schedule on the 30th to Be Discussed After Board of Audit and Inspection Chief Confirmation

The ruling and opposition parties continued negotiations on December 23 over current issues such as the special counsel investigation into the Unification Church, the Daejang-dong parliamentary investigation, and the Coupang joint hearing, but failed to narrow their differences.

Kim Byung-gi, Floor Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (left), and Moon Jin-seok, Deputy Floor Leader for Operations, are heading to the Chairman's Office of the National Assembly Steering Committee on the 23rd for a meeting with Song Eon-seok, Floor Leader of the People Power Party, and Yoo Sang-beom, Deputy Floor Leader for Operations. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Kim Byunggi, Floor Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, Moon Jinseok, Deputy Floor Leader for Operations, Song Eonseok, Floor Leader of the People Power Party, and Yoo Sangbeom, Deputy Floor Leader for Operations, held a meeting at the National Assembly for about an hour and a half on the same day to discuss issues including the special counsel investigation into the Unification Church. However, they failed to reach an agreement.

After the meeting, Deputy Floor Leader for Operations Moon told reporters, "We had a lot of discussions, but nothing was agreed upon," adding, "Regarding the schedule for the plenary session on the 30th, we said we would respond according to the situation after seeing the results of the personnel hearing for the candidate for chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection."

Deputy Floor Leader for Operations Yoo stated, "There were several important issues, but there were differences of opinion," and added, "It is not easy to narrow those differences."

He said, "If time allows, we will meet again to coordinate, but nothing was agreed upon today." Previously, the ruling and opposition parties had met the day before and decided to continue discussions on the special counsel bill for the Unification Church after each party submitted its own proposal.

Subsequently, on this day, the People Power Party jointly submitted the special counsel bill with the Reform Party. For the special counsel candidate recommendation, which had been a point of contention, the bill stipulates that the Chief Judge of the National Court Administration will recommend two candidates. The Democratic Party is reportedly opposed to allowing Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hui-dae to have the authority to recommend special counsel candidates.