Democratic Party of Korea Chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung shakes hands with People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon ahead of their 1st official talks held at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Sunday. (Yonhap)

People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon and Democratic Party of Korea Chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung on Sunday agreed to launch a special consultative body for livelihood policies, review issues tied to the financial investment tax policy and urge the government to establish an emergency medical system for the upcoming Chuseok holiday.

The agreements came as part of a joint statement announced by the ruling and the main opposition parties as the result of the first official talks between Han and Lee. The closed-door meeting which lasted a total of 103 minutes kicked off at the National Assembly at 2 p.m. after the two leaders delivered separate 10-minute opening remarks.

"(Both sides) agreed to launch a special consultative body for the purpose of jointly pursuing common policy pledges aim to improve the livelihoods of the people," the spokesmen for the two parties said in a briefing. The joint statement included a total of eight agreements reached between Han, who was elected in July as the party's leader, and Lee, who was reelected as the main opposition leader last month.

The meeting closely follows the two largest parties’ rare bipartisan cooperation to pass 28 bills aimed to improve people’s livelihoods, last week. Among the 28, was the Nursing Act, which specifies the roles and responsibilities for nurses and nursing assistants, across the country while providing better legal protection.

The leaders of the rival parties also plan to jointly urge the government to establish an emergency medical system for the upcoming Chuseok holiday as the protracted walkout by junior doctors, in protest of a hike in the country's medical school admission quota, has led to a medical crisis.

Regarding the issue of the financial investment income tax, which is set to take effect from the beginning of next year, the two leaders said they will review structural issues in the stock market, before coming up with solid measures. The ruling party has called for the abolition of the financial investment income tax, while the main opposition has pushed the prompt timing of the legislative adoption, to tackle a potential decrease in tax revenues.

However, they "failed to reach an agreement" on the bills railroaded by the Democratic Party and vetoed by President Yoon Suk Yeol, including the one that mandates a special counsel probe into a young Marine's death and another that aims to provide handouts of between 250,000 won ($182) and 350,000 won to the entire population. Han has previously proposed an appointment of a special counsel by an outsider instead of the Democratic Party's initial proposal which allows the main opposition to select the panel members. Lee has expressed willingness to accept the "outside" recommendation proposal, but Han said that the party members have yet to reach a conclusion on the matter.

Prior to the meeting, the two leaders expressed hopes that the meeting would serve as a "starting point for productive politics."

"Today's meeting will serve as the starting point for (a period) of productive and practical politics," Han said in his opening speech.

"I hope we can find a common ground between the ruling and the main opposition parties and continue the meeting from this point on," he added.

Lee responded by expressing anticipation that both sides could "produce realistic measures for (growth in) areas including energy, semiconductor and future technology," in his opening remarks.

The meeting was initially scheduled for Aug. 25, but it was postponed by a week after Lee tested positive for COVID-19.

The government’s plan to increase the medical school quota by about 1,500 students next year in an effort to address the shortage of doctors in key services, was initially on the agenda, but the ruling party decided to remove it the previous day.

The gap in Yoon’s and Han’s stances over the medical school quota issue has been at the center of the latest rift between the president and the ruling party leader. Han earlier proposed deferring the adoption of the quota increase by one year to 2026, highlighting the need for extra time for medical schools to prepare and adjust to the new plan. The presidential office reportedly expressed frustration with Han’s idea, while reiterating its commitment to increase admissions by 2,000 seats annually for the next five years.

Yoon, however, denied the reports of conflicts with Han, telling reporters during a briefing held Thursday, saying, "There are no issues between the ruling party and the Cabinet."

Last week’s plenary session marked the first time the rival parties showed such bipartisan support in advancing legislation since the 22nd Assembly started its four-year session in late May. The country had suffered from intense legislative gridlock in the months leading up to and following the start of the 22nd Assembly session. Yoon has so far vetoed 21 bills, railroaded by the Democratic Party and passed by the opposition-led Assembly, since his inauguration in May 2022 -- the second-most of any president in South Korea's history.

Sunday’s meeting marks the first time since 2013 that the leaders of rival parties held an official meeting to discuss several key issues and agenda items. Lee and Han first officially met on Dec. 19, after Han became the ruling party's interim leader ahead of the April 10 general election and Lee was serving his first term as the Democratic Party chair. However, they did not discuss the agenda at that time.