The newly-elected whips of the two opposition parties met Monday, hinting at boosting cooperation against the government and ruling party in the upcoming 20th National Assembly.

Rep. Woo Sang-ho of The Minjoo Party of Korea paid his first official visit to the People’s Party counterpart Rep. Park Jie-won at 10:30 a.m. for a 10-minute encounter during which both praised each other.
  The Minjoo Party of Korea’s new floor leader Rep. Woo Sang-ho (left) and People’s Party’s counterpart Rep. Park Jie-won after their meeting at the National Assembly on Monday. (Yonhap)
“Having DJ as a common political teacher, we will be able to cooperate more closely than anybody else,” Woo told Park, referring to the late President Kim Dae-jung for which Park had served as key aide.

“Let us find a mutually beneficial way of communication and cooperation so that the people may acknowledge the opposition’s role in politics.”

He also acknowledged his party’s defeat in its longtime stronghold Gwangju and the Jeolla provinces, collectively referred to as the Honam region, where it only secured three out of the 28 regional representative seats in the April 13 general election.

“(The Minjoo Party) will humbly accept Honam’s public sentiment,” he said, calling the election result the “judgment of the people.”

In response to Woo’s olive branch, Park lauded the Minjoo whip as eligible leadership material.

“When I was in the same party, I often said that Woo would be the future leader of the party,” said the Minjoo defector and fourth-term lawmaker-elect.

“Some media tend to bring him down, citing his involvement in activist groups, but everybody was to some extent an activist back then.”

Park also described Woo as “radical, broad-minded and charismatic enough to be the whip of the main opposition party.”

Park met his ruling conservative counterpart Chung Jin-suk last week for 30 minutes. 

During his meeting with his Minjoo counterpart, Park also highlighted the position of the No. 3 party.

“Under all circumstances, we will strive to play a leading role in the parliament, not (just) a tie-breaking third party,” Park said.

“It is the main opposition party that should give out more to the minority party.”

While the three whips established themselves as their parties’ new political pivot, the top posts continued to remain up in the air. The Saenuri Party is undecided over its emergency chief and the Minjoo has kept Kim Chong-in as interim leader up until the party’s mid-year national convention.

“President Park Geun-hye may meet with the floor leaders first, should the Saenuri’s election of its emergency chief be further delayed,” a Cheong Wa Dae official said Monday.

The president had pledged, during her meeting with the chief editors of local media late last month, to meet with the leadership of the top three political parties as soon as possible after her state visit to Iran.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)