(Jeonnam Gwangju = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Cheol-hong = When Kim Min-seok, the new leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, called for "checks for cooperation" regarding the conflict between the Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special City executive and the council, the city council responded by saying, "We will communicate and find a breakthrough."
According to the Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special City and the National Assembly on the 19th, after visiting the National May 18th Democratic Cemetery the previous day, Representative Kim met with Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special City Mayor Min Hyeong-bae and Unified Special City Council Chairman Song Hyeong-gon to discuss the Honam Semiconductor Mega Project and integrated city issues.
Representative Kim emphasized that the 20 trillion won worth of financial resources provided through integration became the priming water for the mega project, and repeatedly emphasized that the central government, local governments, local councils, and civil society must all cooperate.
In particular, during the meeting with the chairman, the recent conflict between the executive branch and the National Assembly was directly mentioned.
Representative Kim said, “I heard that there was a healthy tension with the city executive in the early stages of the process,” and added, “Originally, the council has the function of cooperation and checks, but in times of great change like this, (cooperation) is much more important.”
At the same time, he explained that the party's role is to create governance in which the central government, local governments, local councils, and civil society can cooperate smoothly, saying, "The party will work together to ensure harmonious dialogue and resolution."
When Chairman Song said about this, "There are many more things to cooperate with than checks, and the part to be checked will be a small part," Representative Kim again emphasized that "checks are for cooperation," and Chairman Song responded, "We will do it well through sound checks and balances with the executive branch in the larger framework."
Although Representative Kim did not directly criticize the council's recent response, his successive emphasis on 'healthy tension', 'resolution through dialogue', and 'checks for cooperation' were perceived by some inside and outside the city council as a coordinated message that the executive branch and council belonging to the same Democratic Party should not be buried in a struggle for leadership from the beginning.
Since the Democratic Party occupies 83 of the 91 seats in the Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Council, and Mayor Min is also a member of the same party, there is also a view that if the conflict between the executive branch and the council is prolonged, it may be seen as an intra-party conflict beyond the operational issues of the integrated city, which could be a burden for the central party.
Recently, the integrated city's executive branch and city council have clashed over the scope of prior sharing and consultation for reorganization in the early days of its launch, and have also clashed over the procedure for the citizen recommendation system for the first deputy mayor for political affairs and the suitability of ordinances.
The City Council's Steering Committee had Mayor Min attend to focus on the issue of appointing the Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs, and if there was no expression of regret from the executive branch and no measures to prevent recurrence, it was considering follow-up responses such as an administrative investigation or inquiries into pending issues.
In this situation, interest is also focused on whether the Congress will maintain its existing hard-line response level as the party leader meets directly with the chairman and emphasizes cooperation and dialogue.
There are also observations that it is difficult for the Congress, where the Democratic Party holds an overwhelming majority, to simply ignore the party leader's open call for cooperation.
In fact, on this day, Jeonnam Gwangju City Party Chairman Ahn Do-geol met with the National Assembly Chairman, including Chairman Song Hyeong-gon, at the Gwangju City Council building and discussed ways to regularly operate a tripartite policy consultation channel involving the Special City Party, the Special City, and the Special City Council.
Chairman Ahn emphasized, “The party must play a coordinating role so that the current conflict and confusion surrounding the special city does not give the central government and the central party a negative perception of the integrated special city.”
In response, Chairman Song said, “I will communicate directly with Mayor Min to find a breakthrough in resolving tangled issues such as organizational reorganization, personnel management, and communication issues between the executive branch and the council.”
