President Lee Jae-myung will have lunch with former President Moon Jae-in at the Blue House on Aug. 1. Kang Yu-jung, senior presidential spokesperson, said at an afternoon briefing at Chunchugwan that Lee and Moon are scheduled to meet at 11:30 a.m. at the Blue House for lunch. First lady Kim Jung-sook will not attend due to an overseas schedule.
It will be about 40 days since Lee and Moon last met, at the May memorial service in Bongha Village, Gimhae, South Gyeongsang, marking the 10th anniversary of former President Roh Moo-hyun's death. With tensions between the Blue House and the former leadership under Jung Chung-rae coming to the fore ahead of the Democratic Party of Korea convention, the meeting between the current and former presidents is expected to touch on the need for "unity in the democratic and progressive camp."
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In particular, after Lee recently appointed former chief prosecutor Han Chan-sik as the new senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, opposition to Lee has grown among the old guard centered on the pro-Jung Chung-rae faction. They take issue with the fact that while at the prosecution, Han led a search of the Blue House as part of the Moon Jae-in administration's "Environment Ministry blacklist" investigation.
As a result, attention to Moon has also increased during this convention phase. Moon met former Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae the previous day. It was the first official move by Jung after stepping down as leader, with his bid for the Aug. 17 convention seen as likely. Jung visited the Seoul International Book Fair at COEX in Gangnam, Seoul, and spoke for about 10 minutes with Moon, who attended as the operator of "Pyeongsan Bookstore."
At the event, Jung bought "Kim Dae-jung's oral memoir," the collected works of former President Roh Moo-hyun, "It's Destiny," "Moon Jae-in's Destiny," and President Lee's book "In the end, the people do it." Bowing 90 degrees to Moon, Jung said, "I will visit Pyeongsan sometime. I said we must use the history of Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, and Moon Jae-in as nourishment to make Lee Jae-myung's history bloom." According to Jung, Moon replied, "Well done."