President-Elect Promises Bipartisan Leadership

President-elect Lee Myung-bak visited the National Assembly on Jan. 8 for the first time since he won the presidential election in December, 2007 and met with the floor leader of each party, the chairman and the vice-chairman of the National Assembly.

On Tuesday at a VIP restaurant of the Assembly, President-elect Lee met with the floor leaders of major political parties, including Kim Hyo-seuk of the opposition United New Democratic Party, Ahn Sang-soo of the Grand National Party, Chun Young-se of the Democratic Liberal Party and Choi In-ki of the Democratic Party.

“The new administration will never play partisan politics for a political purpose,” said Lee.

“I will make a new cooperative model between the administration and the parliament in a bid to promote the national economy, to achieve a social integration and to make (Korea) an advanced society,” said CEO-turned politician Lee. “When bills concerning government organizations are confirmed to some degree, I will report it to the Assembly first.”

During the meeting, President-elect Lee asked the floor leaders of both the ruling and opposition parties to help him revise the Government Organization Law, approve the prime minister nominee and complete the confirmation hearings on the nominees for the cabinet posts.

In response, the participating lawmakers of the UNDP the DLP and the DP said, “In principle, we’ll help the state management of the incoming administration.

UNDP floor leader Kim said, “We give our full support to him and will not become an opposition party that becomes a major drag in state administration.” However, Kim also emphasized the importance of checks and balances in the state management. “We will criticize sharply on what is wrong and support what is right. The country is supposed to be managed jointly by the ruling and opposition parties,” Kim said.

When Kim asked Lee not to be preoccupied to achieving a 7 percent economic growth, Lee replied that he will not artificially stimulate the economy by mobilizing public finances.

DPL floor leader Chun asked Lee to pay attention to social polarization and the gravity of the irregular worker issue, while DP floor leader Choi advised Lee to run the country while keeping in mind of the views and claims of the 70 percent of the people who did not support Lee or did not vote.

sunshade@donga.com