President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, shakes hands with Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, after holding their first meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

President Yoon Suk Yeol and main opposition Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung met for the first time at the presidential office in Yongsan, Monday, amid expectations that this meeting could signal a shift away from the confrontational politics that have characterized the relationship between the two blocs over the past two years. It took 720 days and a crushing election defeat for the ruling camp to witness the two former 2022 presidential contenders meeting for talks.

Speaking to reporters before their meeting, both Yoon and Lee spoke of fostering a spirit of amicability. The DPK leader shifted the tone of the meeting as he read a prepared statement spanning 10 pages. Lee urged the president to change the government's direction, apologize for presidential vetoes, and emphasized the importance of special counsel bills to investigate the death of a Marine last year and related suspicions involving family and acquaintances, making an indirect reference to the first lady, Kim Keon Hee. The president dominated the closed-door portion of the meeting with lengthy answers, according to the DPK, prompting criticism that his signature unilateral style of communication still dominates. The talks, flanked by three senior aides on each side, lasted 135 minutes.

After the meeting ended, the presidential office and the DPK diverged on their assessment of the talks. Given that the two parties had largely been engaged in confrontational behavior due to the administration's poor performance and the alleged legal challenges faced by the DPK leader in the past two years, it was not a surprising development. The key takeaway of the meeting were agreements on the importance of increased communication and efforts to boost student enrollment at the nation's medical schools. In this context, the DPK leader showed his support for the administration, which is at odds with the medical community over this issue.

On other issues such as Lee's general election pledge to hand out 250,000 won ($182) to the entire population to boost the grassroots economy and to accept a special bill on the Itaewon crowd crush disaster, the president responded with certain conditions attached. There were no further discussions on Lee's demands to accept special counsel bills related to the death of a Marine last year during rescue operations following floods, as well as political allegations involving Yoon's family.

This could be the reason why, after the meeting, the presidential office affirmed that "policy differences exist on how to improve livelihood," while the DPK reiterated that the "administration's understanding of reality and public sentiment still appears complacent."

To address such criticism, the president should seriously consider accepting the opposition's proposal for a special counsel to investigate the death of Marine Chae Su-geun, as well as allegations of stock manipulation involving the first lady and Deutsch Motors.

Both the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the DPK face a myriad of issues following the April 10 general elections. With only 108 seats, the PPP faces the 192-seat opposition bloc, where the DPK leads with 175 seats. For the remainder of his three years, the president must be able to work with the opposition, which will entail meeting and engaging with different party leaders to negotiate and reach a compromise on issues vital to the nation's economy and security. It will mean a change of course for the president who has stopped meeting the press since November 2022 and issued nine presidential vetoes in the past two years. The DPK leader must resist the temptation to push through bills solely due to his party's large majority in the National Assembly.

Despite the less than ideal outcome of the meeting, many are hopeful simply because the two sides have started communicating with each other. The Yoon Suk Yeol administration characterized the meeting as the "first step in cooperative politics," while the DPK described it as "frustrating and regretful," but "opened the first chapter in communication." They began to talk the talk to some extent, but now they need to walk the walk by meeting more frequently, whether one-on-one or in group settings.