The first meeting between South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and opposition leader Lee Jae-myung yielded no agreement but experts said that a positive outlook remains for future communication.

“In general, the president had a deep, frank, and candid conversation with the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party,” said Lee Do-woon, senior presidential secretary for public relations.

The meeting came after the president called the opposition leader on April 19 and proposed to meet for talks following the landslide victory by the Democratic Party (DP) in the general elections on April 10

Though the two sides did not reach any agreement there were areas where they shared a general understanding, he said at a briefing after the meeting.

READ MORE: South Korea's Yoon to meet opp leader amid bid to reset presidency

Yoon met with Lee Jae-myung at the presidential office in their first meeting since Yoon took office in May 2022.

The meeting came after the president called the opposition leader on April 19 and proposed to meet for talks following the landslide victory by the Democratic Party (DP) in the general elections on April 10.

Yoon’s ruling People Power Party secured only 108 seats in the 300-member National Assembly.

The meeting lasted over two hours, exceeding the original plan of an hour.  

In contrast to the presidential office, DP Spokesman Park Sung-joon said he was disappointed with the meeting as he could not see any change in the government’s stance.

Noting that the meeting was conducted in a format in which Yoon responded to Lee Jae-myung’s requests, Park said it seems that Yoon did not show any willingness to change the direction of his policies on restoring people’s livelihoods, which the DP had insisted on.

Lee Jae-myung also asked the president to resolve allegations against people around him, including his family, which was seen as a reference to First Lady Kim Keon-hee, who was involved in a gift scandal

Before the closed-door discussion started, Lee Jae-myung made a speech of about 15 minutes, during which he criticized the policies of the incumbent government.

He asked Yoon to accept the DP’s general election pledge to hand out 250,000 won ($182) each to the entire population, accepting a special probe into suspicions surrounding a Marine Corps member’s death last year, and a special bill to investigate the Itaewon tragedy that killed 159 people in a Halloween crush in 2022.

Lee Jae-myung also asked the president to resolve allegations against people around him, including his family, which was seen as a reference to First Lady Kim Keon-hee, who was involved in a gift scandal.

In terms of the government’s plan to increase the medical school admission quota, Lee Jae-myung said the policy direction is correct and the opposition party is willing to cooperate.

Yoon meeting with the DP is a very important concession, not just in terms of listening to the people but listening to the nation and the opposition party, said David Tizzard, assistant professor of Korean studies at Seoul Women's University. Tizzard also noted that Yoon also let Lee Jae-myung speak first at the meeting.

Seeing Lee Jae-myung’s speech as both detailed and wide-ranging, Tizzard said the public focus will be on how the two sides can work to restore the disrupted medical service due to strikes in response to the government’s plan to increase medical school admissions.

Yoon and Lee Jae-myung shared the same view that people’s livelihoods are the most important policy issue and agreed to meet more frequently in the future in different formats, according to Lee Do-woon, the presidential secretary

More than 90 percent of South Korea’s trainee doctors walked out in February in protest of the government plan.

“All of these issues will be incredibly complicated and they will take time to sort out. Whether they will be able to reach agreements remains to be seen,” said Tizzard. “We need to be a little bit careful about being too positive, too quickly.”

However, the meeting is indeed important as the two parties showed that they are willing to come together and cooperate on certain issues although they might be at ideological loggerheads domestically, he said.

READ MORE: Yoon pledges to ‘listen’ to South Koreans after general election setback

Yoon and Lee Jae-myung shared the same view that people’s livelihoods are the most important policy issue and agreed to meet more frequently in the future in different formats, according to Lee Do-woon, the presidential secretary.

Jung Hee-yong, PPP chief spokesman, said the meeting is of great significance because it opened the door for communication and cooperation.

“Today’s meeting was mixed with regret and hope but it is a provides a platform for communication that wisely address the key issues of livelihood and state affairs, marking the turning point and the starting point for the restoration of dialogue politics and cooperative governance, said Jung.

Contact the writer at kelly@chinadailyapac.com