President Lee Jae-myung on the 25th invited the new leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea to Cheong Wa Dae for a dinner. It came six days after he had dinner on the 19th with lawmakers Jung Chung-rae and Song Young-gil, who had competed with party leader Kim Min-seok for control of the party. The move was aimed at fixing the situation after the party split into a "pro-Myung vs. pro-Cheong" camp during the Aug. 17 party convention and conflicts among supporters remained unresolved even after the primary.
At the Inwang Room of the main building at Cheong Wa Dae that day, the dinner was attended by leader Kim, floor leader Han Byeong-do, supreme council members Choi Min-hee, Park Sun-won, Seo Mi-hwa, Lee Seong-yun, and Han Min-soo, secretary-general Han Jeong-ae, policy committee chair Kwon Chil-seung, and chief spokesperson Park Sung-joon. From Cheong Wa Dae, chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik, senior presidential secretary for political affairs Hong Ik-pyo, presidential secretary for political affairs Jeong Eul-ho, first executive office chief Kim Hyun-ji, and chief spokesperson Kang Yu-jung were present.
Before the dinner, Lee said, "Our Democratic Party is one with the government and the presidential office, and among them, the president is a flower bloomed by our Democratic Party," adding, "I am the most important member of the Democratic Party." He also said, "The government, too, is the government created by our Democratic Party," and added, "If the party, government, and presidential office work together to carry out the roles the people entrusted to the Democratic Party and the Lee Jae-myung administration, that would be good."
Supreme council members Choi Min-hee and Lee Seong-yun, who had clashed with the pro-Myung faction during the convention, arrived first at the dinner venue and took their seats. Senior supreme council member Choi also called writer Rhyu Si-min, who had said things like "President Lee Jae-myung is destined to suffer inevitable defeat," a "true intellectual," further inflaming the internal feud.
At the meeting, Lee said, "There are differences, but no matter how big they are, they are not as big as the differences we must overcome with our opponent," adding, "Even twins born in the same womb are different; if you start looking for differences, you will go down the path of enmity, but if you look for commonalities, you become brothers with affection. The party, government, and presidential office should be like that."
He also said, "I hope the members of the Democratic Party, who represent party members and work for the people, can go all out beyond their small differences to build the great Republic of Korea that our people have entrusted to us."
◇ Kim: "We will make sure the leadership gives the president nothing to worry about"
In response, Kim Min-seok said, "We had originally promised to have an after-meeting among the leadership after this," adding, "To that extent, while we are already having internal debates through supreme council meetings, externally we are naturally aligning to focus our remarks on fixing the direction of state affairs and addressing what is wrong."
Kim said, "I am confident we will be a leadership that unites as well as the two leaderships you led, and I will work to have the leadership move together," adding, "We will be a leadership that certainly works well so that there is nothing for you (the president) to worry about."
At the dinner, in addition to asking for cooperation on key legislative tasks, they also reportedly discussed supplements to real estate tax policy, cited as a reason for the recent drop in the president's approval rating. A ruling-party official also said that issues such as the controversy over Chief Justice Jo Hee-de's written recommendation and Cheong Wa Dae's response plan would be on the table.