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“There were candlelight rallies on July 5. The main opposition Democratic Party (formerly the United Democratic Party) held a national convention on July 6. The National Assembly will open an extra session on July 7. Cheong Wa Dae plans a reshuffle of the Cabinet during the week.”

The nation’s political community has a rare opportunity to get things back to normal.

One sign that things are going in a positive direction is that the National Assembly appears to be ready to open its doors, following the election of new Assembly members on April 9 and a subsequent boycott by the main opposition Democratic Party, which changed its name from the former United Democratic Party and elected new party leaders at its convention on July 6. One of the main issues facing the DP has been its boycott of the Assembly, which began in June due to disagreement about the U.S. beef agreement and concerns about other government issues. Now, DP floor leader Won Hye-young appears to be optimistic, while saying that the ruling and opposition parties will still have to narrow their differences on certain issues.

Meanwhile, the ruling Grand National Party will make another attempt to elect an Assembly speaker beginning July 7 and the DP is of the position that it will not reject a reasonable candidate. In addition, the conservative opposition Liberty Forward Party, which has 18 Assembly seats, has declared that it will join the Assembly session beginning on July 10. As a result, the Assembly will be able to elect its speaker, even if it will be difficult to reach a compromise on the major leadership posts. This gives hope to the idea that things at the Assembly can get back to normal soon.

Second, the relationship between the ruling and opposition parties is showing signs of recovery. GNP Chairperson Park Hee-tae participated in the DP’s national convention on July 6, and was accompanied by GNP Secretary General Kwon Young-se, spokesperson Cho Yun-sun and lawmaker Kim Hyo-jae. It is almost unprecedented for party representatives to participate in another party’s convention.

Another good sign is that Park said recently that the GNP would never elect the Assembly speaker on its own. Regarding the police’s violent crackdown on the candlelight protests, he remarked, “If there is something wrong, we should correct it.” In connection with the Law on Assembly and Demonstration, which makes both illegal, he said, “We need to consider revising (the law) in line with the current situation,” which shows a positive attitude. The DP also seems to be welcoming the GNP’s change of attitude.

Third, the GNP has started to change its attitude about the candlelight rallies. After the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice held a mass on June 30, the ruling party took the position that the candle lights cannot be blown out artificially. These days, officials of the presidential office and the GNP are saying that they should think of the candlelight vigils as a constant number, rather than as a variable, in the operation of state affairs. Even hard-line GNP floor leader Hong Joon-pyo has started to say that the candlelight rallies will continue. Politics begins from admitting the reality.

One of the reasons why Cheong Wa Dae and the political parties are working so hard to bring politics back to normal is because they are feeling a sense of crisis. The existence of politics and politicians is being threatened by the political vacuum that has been created amid the continuation of the candlelight rallies for the past two months. Lawmakers from the DP and the progressive opposition Democratic Labor Party have joined the candlelight protests en masse, almost with a sense of embarrassment, because a considerable number of citizens say that lawmakers should be fighting with them on the street instead of attending the Assembly.

It is difficult to say, however, whether politics will recover fully, considering the divergent positions taken by President Lee Myung-bak and each one of the parties.

Above all, President Lee and the GNP have not yet shown themselves to be sincere. When the candles go out, they can stage a major counterattack as they have done in the past.

In the meantime, as the candles continue to burn, the members of the newly-renamed DP have locked horns in a battle for control of the party.

Perhaps only time will tell whether the political community will be able to overcome the challenges facing the nation.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]