President Lee Myung-bak, right, and Park Geun-hye, left, former chairwoman of the ruling Grand National Party, have a conversation at a luncheon meeting yesterday in the Blue House.YONHAP
The ruling Grand National Party must put its priority on improving the livelihoods of the people, not just politics, and strive for the unity of its members in order to regain the public trust, former GNP Chairwoman Park Geun-hye said in a meeting yesterday with President Lee Myung-bak.
Park pledged to take a role in revamping the party’s image in the politically crucial year ahead of legislative and presidential elections.
In a rare meeting between the two conservative leaders, the future of the ruling party and its plummeting popularity in the aftermath of the April by-election defeats were discussed along with other issues.
Lee and Park had a luncheon at the Blue House with their aides and then a separate one-on-one talk for an additional 55 minutes. Park, the daughter of former president and strongman Park Chung Hee, is considered one of the party’s most likely presidential candidates in 2012.
While the Blue House was tight-lipped about the meeting, Park briefed reporters afterward about her discussion with Lee.
“I have told the president that the GNP is in a crisis now, but the party is making efforts to be reborn,” she said. “What’s important is the direction and the standard [of the reform]. I told the president that the party’s priority must be the livelihoods of the people, not the politics, and we must unite to win back the people’s trust. I promised that I will do my best for the party and the country.”
According to Park, Lee expressed his support for her determination to overhaul the GNP.
“The party must make genuine efforts before the people,” Lee was quoted as saying by Park. “It is promising that the party is discussing this issue actively.”
The most significant discussions took place in Lee and Park’s private talk after the luncheon. It was the first one-on-one meeting between Lee and Park in 10 months.
Asked if the two leaders discussed the factionalism between Lee and Park loyalists in the GNP, Park replied, “Isn’t it inappropriate to mention pro-Lee and pro-Park?”
“The party must unite within a bigger framework, and we must do our best,” Park said. “I will play my role on my own.” She did not elaborate on specific plans on how she will contribute to the party’s overhaul.
According to Park, she proposed Lee pay more attention to the basic economic issues that affect the people, pointing to inflation and rising housing prices, along with snowballing household debt.
“I told Lee that the economic index looks good, but the people are not feeling it, and that is a serious problem,” she said. “President Lee replied that he will make the working class’ economic issues the focus of his government.”
According to Park, Lee also expressed interest in the tuition issue.
Park said she and Lee discussed North Korean issues for a significant amount of time, but declined to elaborate. “The government will soon explain about this,” she said.
