Former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min. [Yonhap]
Former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min. [Yonhap]

Former People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Seung-min said he has been trying to arrange a meeting with former President Park Geun-hye for more than a year without receiving any response.

Yoo made the remarks Thursday on "Uncomfortable Yeouido," a YouTube program run by JoongAng Ilbo, saying he had asked Lawmaker Yoo Young-ha to pass along his request to meet with Park. "It has been nearly a year," he said.

He added that Park, as the direct subject of her impeachment, had suffered the most, and that she might harbor resentment toward him as someone who had supported it. "The same goes for former President Yoon Suk Yeol — if conservatives keep splitting over the impeachment issue, the only beneficiary will be the Democratic Party, every single time," he said.

Yoo said he was eager to hear Park's thoughts on reconciliation — specifically on moving past the impeachment divide. "I want to ask her to help heal the rift among conservatives caused by the impeachment debate, but it has been difficult to get a meeting," he said.

Lawmaker Yoo Young-ha, however, pushed back against Yoo Seung-min's overture.

Speaking Friday on KBS Radio's "Jeongyeok Sisa," Yoo Young-ha drew a line, saying that if Yoo Seung-min believed Park's impeachment was justified, he was free to say so on his own. "There is no reason for me to play the role of a key intermediary," he said.

Yoo Young-ha added that he considered the impeachment entirely unjustified and believed it would eventually be corrected. "If you are that confident, go to Daegu and let the citizens judge you — tell them you led the charge to impeach President Park and that it was the right thing to do," he said.

He went on to say there was no reason for Yoo Seung-min to come to them at all. "There is nothing to discuss with us. What reason is there to meet? None," he said. "Go out and persuade the public — persuade the citizens of Daegu."


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