SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Emboldened by his party’s recent election win, South Korea’s opposition leader Lee Jae-myung pressured President Yoon Suk Yeol to accept special investigations into allegations involving top officials and his wife, as they met Monday for talks on bipartisan cooperation.
The meeting was their first since Yoon, a conservative former top prosecutor, took office in 2022 after defeating Lee, a liberal former provincial governor, in the country’s closest presidential election race. During their 2022 campaigns, Yoon, Lee and their supporters demonized each other and filed dozens of lawsuits against one another.
Yoon proposed the meeting as he faces growing calls to cooperate with Lee’s Democratic Party, whose victory in the April 10 parliamentary election allows it to extend its control of the single-chamber National Assembly until after Yoon’s single five-year term ends in 2027.
In his lengthy opening remarks, Lee, now the Democratic Party chairman, said the election results mean “the people’s stern demand for correcting wrong government administrations,” addressing economic troubles and restoring democratic rules.
Lee urged Yoon to accept independent probes into the 2022 Halloween crush in Seoul that killed 159 people, and the 2023 death of a marine who drowned during a search-and-rescue operation for flood victims. Lee’s party has accused Yoon of ignoring public demands and retaining top officials and military commanders responsible for the deadly incidents.
Lee also asked Yoon to resolve “diverse suspicions involving his family” that “poses a big burden on government operations.” That was apparently a reference to first lady Kim Keon Hee, who faces an allegation of involvement in a stock price manipulation and other scandals.
“I’d say it would be good for you, as president, to respect the National Assembly and consider the opposition party as a partner for government operations,” Lee said.
While listening to Lee's statement, Yoon nodded several times and said he had expected Lee to make such comments but didn’t elaborate. Their meeting was closed to media after Lee and Yoon's opening remarks.
Senior presidential adviser Lee Do-woon said after the meeting that Yoon told Lee that he won’t oppose a special law to investigate the Halloween deaths. But he said that concerns over the powers of an ad-hoc investigation committee must be resolved first. Yoon and Lee didn't discuss Lee's demands for other probes, according to Yoon's office.
During the meeting, Lee also asked Yoon to accept his contentious idea of the government giving 250,000 won (about $180) to all South Koreans as a way to boost the economy, a step that Yoon’s party has called a populist measure. Lee Do-woon, the presidential adviser, said Yoon said that he prefers selectively supporting those in need.
In a separate briefing, Democratic Party spokesperson Park Sung-joon accused Yoon of lacking the resolve to revive public livelihoods. Park cited Lee as suggesting he was disappointed at the meeting’s results though the start of direct communication with Yoon would still be meaningful.
No agreement was reached, but Yoon’s office said the president and Lee agreed to meet again, without setting a date.
In one positive news for bipartisan cooperation, Lee told Yoon that his party would support the government’s high-stakes push to increase medical school students, which prompted thousands of young doctors to walk out of the job in February. The government recently suggested it’s open to halving its target medical school enrollment increase to 1,000 next year from the previously proposed 2,000, but doctors say they can’t accept any increase in students.
Yoon has said South Korea needs to create more doctors as it has one of the world’s most rapidly aging populations and its doctors-to-patient ratio is among the lowest in advanced economies. Doctors say schools can’t deal with a too steep increase in students, but critics say they simply worry the supply of more doctors would eventually result in lowering their income.
The parliamentary election was seen as a litmus test of Yoon, who has been struggling with low approval rating and an opposition-controlled parliament that has limited his policy agenda since his inauguration. Critics say the election defeat was largely attributable to the government’s failure to suppress rising prices and other economic problems and Yoon’s personal management and leadership styles.
Despite the election defeat, Yoon’s major foreign policy agendas will likely remain unchanged as they mostly don’t require parliamentary endorsements. Yoon has pushed hard to boost cooperation with the United States and Japan to cope with North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats and other challenges.
During Monday's meeting, Yoon and Lee didn't have meaningful exchange of opinions on North Korea and other foreign policy issues, according to Yoon's office.
People watch a TV screen showing South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, meeting with main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
People watch a TV screen showing South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, meeting with main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, talks with main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung during a meeting at the presidential office in Seoul South Korea, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Hong Hae-in/Yonhap via AP)
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, shakes hands with main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung during a meeting at the presidential office in Seoul South Korea, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Hong Hae-in/Yonhap via AP)
Palestinians are marking 76 years of dispossession on Wednesday, commemorating their mass expulsion from what is today Israel, as a potentially even larger catastrophe unfolds in Gaza, where more than half a million of people have been displaced in recent days by fighting.
Israel has been pressing its military operations in Rafah, a city along Gaza's southern border with Egypt, and in northern Gaza, where Hamas has regrouped. Around 450,000 Palestinians have been driven out of Rafah over the past week, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Tuesday. In northern Gaza, Israeli evacuation orders have displaced at least 100,000 people so far.
Some 80% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their homes since the start of the war, with many relocating multiple times.
No food has entered the two main border crossings in southern Gaza for the past week. Some 1.1 million Palestinians are on the brink of starvation, according to the U.N, while a “full-blown famine” is taking place in the north of the territory.
Israel has portrayed Rafah as the last Hamas stronghold, brushing off warnings from the United States and other allies that any major operation there would be catastrophic for civilians.
Seven months of the war have killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to local health officials.
The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people there, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostage. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
Currently:
— The Biden administration is sending $1 billion more in weapons and ammo to Israel, congressional aides say.
— Palestinians mark 76 years of dispossession from present-day Israel, a somber Nakba, which is Arabic for catastrophe.
— Some social media users take to a “blockout” of celebrities to pressure them to take a stand over the crisis in Gaza.
— Israelis mark a subdued Independence Day under the shadow of the war in Gaza.
— Amsterdam university cancels classes after violence erupted at a pro-Palestinian rally.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here's the latest:
CAIRO — Egypt has blasted comments by Israel’s top diplomat in which he blamed the Arab country for the closure of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip.
Egypt has expressed mounting frustration with Israel’s seizure of the Palestinian side of the crossing last week, saying it threatens the two countries’ decades-old peace treaty.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Israel “is responsible for the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.”
“We reject the policy of distorting the facts,” Shoukry said in a statement on Tuesday, denouncing Israel’s “desperate attempts” to blame Egypt.
He said Israel’s incursion into Rafah was the main reason aid cannot enter through the crossing and called for Israel to allow more aid through its own crossings.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday that there was a “need to persuade Egypt to reopen the Rafah crossing to allow the continued delivery of international humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
“The world places the responsibility for the humanitarian situation on Israel, but the key to preventing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now in the hands of our Egyptian friends.”
Egypt has played a key role in mediation efforts aimed at brokering a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and the release of hostages. It has also expressed fears that the humanitarian crisis could send a mass influx of Palestinians across the border into its Sinai Peninsula.
BEIRUT — An Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon has killed a local Hezbollah commander, the militant group said Wednesday.
The Israeli military released a video of the strike along a main road near the southern port city of Tyre, saying that the Hezbollah commander had planned and carried out several attacks against Israel.
Hezbollah said 55-year-old Hussein Makki was killed late Tuesday without, giving further details. Lebanon’s emergency responders said the strike also wounded two people who were taken to a hospital. They said a fire that broke out as a result of the strike was extinguished and that the body of one person was recovered at the scene.
Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7, Hezbollah has launched near-daily attacks on Israel, drawing return fire. Israel’s military has managed to kill a number of local Hezbollah commanders.
Israeli airstrikes and shelling, mainly in southern Lebanon, have killed nearly 400 people, most of them militants, but also more than 70 civilians and noncombatants. In Israel, the violence has left at least 15 soldiers and 10 civilians dead.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a speech on Monday reiterated his group’s stance that it would keep up its strikes until Israel ends the war in Gaza.
JERUSALEM — The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli protesters have again set fire to the perimeter of its headquarters in east Jerusalem.
Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote on the social media platform X that “Israeli children and young people” had orchestrated an “arson attempt” on the facility on Monday night.
He shared video footage from Israeli media appearing to show small brush fires along the perimeter of the compound. Adam Bouloukos, an UNRWA official, said staff were present in the facility but no one was injured.
UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma said the compound had just reopened after a previous round of demonstrations outside the facility last week. Young protesters had twice set fire to the perimeter and hurled stones at UNRWA staff attempting to put out the blazes.
Touma said the compound is staying open for now.
The demonstrations began after Israel accused UNRWA, the largest provider of humanitarian aid to Gaza, of having links to Hamas and other Palestinian militants. UNRWA denies the allegations. An independent investigation found that the agency had “robust procedures” to ensure its neutrality but that there were some gaps in implementation.
BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group and a visiting Hamas official on Wednesday discussed the latest round of cease-fire talks but vowed to keep up the attacks and pressure on Israel.
The Hezbollah-run Al-Manar TV said the militant group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and Hamas' Khalil al-Hayya also talked about so-called “backup fronts” — a reference to Hezbollah's attacks on Israel along the Israeli-Lebanon border, as well as strikes and attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels toward Israel.
The TV station said the two pledged to keep up the pressure in order “to achieve the honorable goals” set out by Hamas' unprecedented Oct. 7, attack on southern Israel that triggered the ongoing war.
In this picture released on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, by Hezbollah media relations office, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, second right, meets with the high-ranking Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, second left, in Beirut, Lebanon. Nasrallah discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip and the recent round of talks for a truce with a top Hamas official visiting Beirut. (Hezbollah Media Relations Office, via AP )
Palestinians pray by the bodies of people killed during Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, next to the morgue in Deir al Balah, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 9, 2024. Palestinians on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, will mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel. It’s an event that is at the core of their national struggle, but in many ways pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike on a school run by UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike on a school run by UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians rescuers dig around the body of man in the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - A Palestinian holds the body of a dead baby rescued from the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk along a beach of Mediterranean Sea at a makeshift tent camp in Deir al Balah, Monday, May 13, 2024. Palestinians on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, will mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel. It's an event that is at the core of their national struggle, but in many ways pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
