Former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo is said to have asked President Lee Jae-myung at a closed-door luncheon to restore the privileges for former President Lee Myung-bak and to provide national support for the Daegu–North Gyeongsang (TK) new airport.
According to political circles on the 17th, President Lee and former Mayor Hong held a closed-door luncheon at the presidential office that day. It came a year after President Lee said in May last year, when Hong declared his retirement from politics and left for the United States, that "when you come back from the United States, let's share a glass of makgeolli."
At the meeting, the former mayor proposed restoring the privileges for the former president for Lee Myung-bak. Shortly after the luncheon, he said on Facebook that he requested it "out of the tidying up and loyalty from the time we were together as drifters in Washington, in 1999," referring to Lee Myung-bak.
Under the Act on the Treatment of Former Presidents, a former president receives a pension and may have three secretaries and one driver. However, after Lee received a finalized sentence of imprisonment or heavier, he no longer received the privileges of a former president except for "security and protection."
In addition, Hong is said to have requested national support for the TK (Daegu–North Gyeongsang) new airport project. He holds that the project is necessary for balanced national development.
In this context, Hong is publicly supporting former Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, who ran as the Democratic Party of Korea candidate for Daegu mayor in the June 3 local elections. On his online communication channel "Dream of Youth" last month, he said, "For Daegu to leap forward, support from the Lee Jae-myung administration is needed," adding, "The TK new airport could also be affected."