Jang Donghyuk Decides Not to Attend President Lee's Luncheon with Ruling and Opposition Leaders

Backlash Against Ruling Party's Forcible Passage of Constitutional Litigation Act

People Power Party leader Jang Donghyuk decided on February 12 not to attend the luncheon meeting between President Lee Jaemyung and the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties. This decision came after the Democratic Party of Korea, the ruling party, unilaterally pushed through so-called the Constitutional Litigation Act and the Supreme Court Expansion Act at the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

Yonhap News Agency

Park Juntae, chief of staff to the People Power Party leader, met with reporters at the National Assembly on the morning of the same day and said, "Representative Jang has decided not to attend today's luncheon meeting, and we have conveyed this to Hong Ihpyo, Senior Presidential Secretary for Political Affairs at the Office of the President." As a result, the meeting between the president and the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties, which had been arranged for the first time in five months, has fallen through.

The People Power Party is reportedly toying with a boycott card because it views this meeting as a means for the ruling party and the Office of the President to cover up the burden arising from the repeated forcible passage of contentious bills and from their own conflicts. Supreme Council member Shin Dongwook said, "Representative Jang must never play a mere extra in the Office of the President's staged production," while Supreme Council member Kim Minsu said, "They scheduled the luncheon meeting to gloss over and bury the fact that they rammed through such a disgraceful bill," adding, "I strongly urge him not to attend."

At the beginning of the Supreme Council meeting held that morning, Representative Jang had said, "I will convey public sentiment to the president," but he reversed his position after Supreme Council members asked him to reconsider, citing the Democratic Party's push to railroad the legislation. It is reported that Supreme Council members urged him not to attend throughout the entire process of the pre-meeting, the public meeting, and the closed-door meeting.

Representative Jang said, "I fully understood that this proposal for a meeting was like a couple's quarrel within the ruling party, after which they call in the neighbor next door, the People Power Party, to make up, and yet I agreed to attend the luncheon because I felt I had to convey the voices of people's livelihoods at the meeting." He continued, "However, after that, an incident that completely destroys the judicial system of the Republic of Korea occurred once again, and the Special Act on Administrative Integration was unilaterally passed without the opposition party's views being reflected."