President Lee Myung-bak and Democratic Party Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu met in Cheong Wa Dae at 7:30 a.m. on June 27 to discuss economic issues affecting the lives of ordinary citizens. The talks lasted for two hours and five minutes, until 9:35. Also attended the meeting throughout were Kim Doo-woo, the Senior Secretary to the President for Public Relations from the Office of the President; and Lee Yong-sup, the Democratic Party Spokesperson.

The six topics under discussion are as follows:

Household Debt

The Government will, as soon as possible, devise and disclose a package of measures to address surging household debt so that it does not become a destabilizing factor in the economy going forward. The measures will include ways to manage the size of household debt at an appropriate level and alleviate the burden on households.

Savings Bank Corruption Scandal

The Government will work out solid measures to prevent a recurrence of the problems caused by distressed savings banks that could victimize innocent people. Concerning the malpractices that have already occurred at some savings banks, the Government as well as the ruling and opposition parties will cooperate as much as possible to ensure that the investigations by the prosecution and the National Assembly clarify the causes behind the incident and identify who is responsible, questioning every possible suspect without fail.

Creation of Job Opportunities

The President and the opposition party leader agreed to work hard on job creation, sharing the belief that providing jobs represents the best policy for protecting public welfare and an efficient measure for securing people’s livelihoods. They also concurred that the Government as well as the ruling and opposition parties will work together to ensure that funds earmarked for job creation are reflected to the fullest when drawing up next year’s budget.

The public sector shall take the initiative and set an example in creating jobs and bridging the gap between regular and irregular workers.

College Tuition 

President Lee and the opposition party leader saw eye to eye on the need to lower college tuition and to restructure the nation’s colleges and universities. However, they differed on the concrete measures that should be taken in this regard. However, the two leaders did recognize that education has far-reaching ramifications for the nation’s future and agreed to maintain a dialogue in order to iron out their differences.

Formulation of a Supplementary Budget

Democratic Party Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu demanded that the Government establish a supplementary budget to cope with expected increases in expenses for the second half of the year. He cited the need to reduce college tuition, provide assistance to farmers hit by the hoof-and-mouth disease outbreak, create more jobs and provide disaster relief from typhoons. However, President Lee said that the items Chairman Sohn cited do not qualify legally as grounds for ordering a supplementary budget.

KORUS Free Trade Agreement

President Lee urged Chairman Sohn’s active cooperation in obtaining parliamentary ratification of the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, which is important for the future of the country. However, Democratic Party Chairman Sohn said that the KORUS FTA ratification bill, which had been submitted to the National Assembly after a renegotiation between Seoul and Washington, no longer fairly reflected the interests of both countries in a balanced manner. He said it is quite necessary for the Government to renegotiate the FTA.