Lee Jae-myung and Cho Kuk meet for dinner today… Lee “I suggested first”

Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea and Cho Kuk, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, plan to hold a private dinner at 6:30 p.m. on the 25th, both parties announced to reporters. The location of the dinner is unknown.

Lee Jae-myeong, leader of the Democratic Party, met with reporters at the National Assembly this afternoon and responded to a related question by saying, “I contacted Representative Cho Kuk first.” Representative Lee said, “I know him well, and I contacted him after the election, but we needed to talk about various things, so I asked him to have dinner.”

When asked, “Do you plan to talk specifically about the establishment of the relationship between the Democratic Party and Cho Kuk Party?”, Representative Lee said, “It has not been decided in detail, and I received help from Professor Cho Kuk during the Seongnam mayoral election.” Representative Cho Kuk participated in the policy advisory group of Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung’s election committee during the 2014 local elections.

Representative Lee said, “Because our relationship is very long and this election was actually held in separate roles, there is something to communicate about the political situation in the future, so we need to have a conversation together.”

An opposition official said, “As Representative Cho Kuk requested a ‘pan-opposition joint meeting’ ahead of the summit talks, there is a possibility that Representative Lee will hear Representative Cho’s views on the agenda of the summit talks.”

In addition, officials from both parties said that topics of conversation could include the formation of a joint negotiation group between the Fatherland Innovation Party, ways to cooperate on various pending issues such as the Special Prosecution Act after the opening of the 22nd National Assembly, and establishing a smooth relationship between the supporters of both parties. Representative Lee’s remarks that he ‘received help from Professor Cho Kuk during the Seongnam mayoral election’ and ‘this general election was also conducted by dividing roles’ were also interpreted as an extension of his concerns about the relationship between the two parties.

During his visit to Jeonju on the 22nd, Representative Cho Kuk said to Representative Lee Jae-myeong regarding the summit between leaders, “Please create and lead a pan-opposition joint meeting before meeting President Yoon,” and added, “If we meet with opposition representatives before the meeting and gather consensus, we will have greater strength.” “This will be published,” he said.

However, the Democratic Party later showed a lukewarm response. Park Seong-joon, chief spokesperson of the Democratic Party, said on the 24th, “This meeting is a meeting between the President and the Democratic Party,” and added, “If the President wants to listen to the voices of the opposition party, shouldn’t he spend time meeting with the representatives of the opposition parties, such as the Fatherland Reform Party and the New Reform Party?” In response, Kim Bo-hyeop, spokesperson for the Korea Reform Party, responded, “It’s unfortunate and disappointing,” and added, “I would be grateful if we would consider Representative Cho’s serious proposal a little more deeply and Representative Lee would give us an answer.”