People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik (left) and Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok head to a restaurant in Yeouido, Seoul, on Tuesday for a lunch meeting. [Yonhap]
People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik (left) and Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok head to a restaurant in Yeouido, Seoul, on Tuesday for a lunch meeting. [Yonhap]

People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik and Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok met for lunch Tuesday to discuss how the two conservative opposition parties should respond to the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's push for a so-called "fabricated indictment" special prosecutor act and the abolition of supplementary investigation rights.

Jeong proposed the meeting. PPP floor operations chief Rep. Kim Seung-su and Reform Party floor leader Cheon Ha-ram also attended.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Lee said the two sides discussed "common opposition tasks — things like the supplementary investigation rights issue — and agreed that if there are matters to coordinate on, we coordinate, and if we can act together, we act together."

Kim said the meeting covered "the general situation in the National Assembly" and that the two sides exchanged views on abolishing supplementary investigation rights and what he described as the Democratic Party and the government's various heavy-handed policy moves.

Some observers suggested the lunch could mark the beginning of closer cooperation between the two conservative opposition parties against the ruling bloc.

Many analysts, however, see limits to any full-scale joint effort, pointing to recent friction between the two parties over Jung Seok-jun, the former Reform Party candidate for Busan mayor, who was detained on charges of staging a fake attack on himself during the June 3 local elections.

Kim played down the significance of the meeting. "It wasn't a lunch with any particular purpose — more of a social get-together," he said, adding that "no specific discussions about party-level issues came up."

In practice, the lunch is understood to have amounted to little more than an agreement to cooperate if and when the need arises, rather than any immediate joint action.

No specific mention was made of PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok or independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, according to those familiar with the meeting.


mp1256@heraldcorp.com