Ahn urges inter-Korean summit

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo called on President Park Geun-hye to push for an inter-Korean summit in his first speech at the National Assembly as a co-chairman of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), Wednesday.

He also suggested forming a group of bipartisan envoys for a visit to Pyongyang to discuss inter-Korean issues.

“A South-North summit is definitely necessary. If the government is ever preparing to hold a summit, President Park should let the public and the opposition parties know about that, and seek cooperation,” said Ahn.

The first-term lawmaker said the Park administration should use such a summit as a step toward achieving unification of the two Koreas, rather than as a political event to attract public interest.

“I welcome President Park’s ‘Dresden Doctrine.’ The NPAD will sincerely cooperate in the government’s attempt to push for reconciliation of the two Koreas,” said Ahn.

Park made a package of proposals to the North during her visit to the German city of Dresden last month, where she suggested aid and joint projects to prepare for unification, such as investing in social infrastructure.

Ahn’s speech came at the suggestion of Rep. Jun Byung-hun, the NPAD’s floor leader, who originally planned to give the speech.

The suggestion was construed as a bid to throw weight behind Ahn, who became the leader of the main opposition party holding 130 parliamentary seats less than a year after he entered the Assembly through the last year’s April by-election.

Ahn and Rep. Kim Han-gil, former chairman of the Democratic Party (DP), were appointed as co-chairmen of the newly established coalition between the DP and Ahn’s supporters on March 26.

Other suggestions made during his speech included starting a joint weekly meeting of lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties to mull ways of improving the living conditions of Koreans.

“I expect that members from rival members can draw up conclusions on various contentious issues, such as a basic pension bill, at such a joint meeting,” he said.

The former doctor and software mogul said the party will forge ahead with its efforts to increase the number of small houses, build public residences for university students and provide 120,000 long-term public rental housing units for people in the low-wage bracket.

He also urged President Park to accept his earlier proposal to meet with him to discuss the scrapping of the practice of parties nominating candidates for lower-level municipal and provincial council elections.

“Park needs to solve the problems that she created,” said Ahn. “I expect her to acknowledge the opposition leader as a companion of her state affairs.”

The opposition has long been criticizing the governing side for its decision to maintain the nomination system in the upcoming local polls, although President Park, then the ruling party candidate, promised to abolish it in the lead-up to the 2012 presidential election.

The former professor at Seoul National University also called on the president to dismiss Nam Jae-joon, director of the National Intelligence Service, who was accused of intervening in various political matters including the presidential poll. By Jun Ji-hye, The Korea Times