Second preparatory meeting for summit talks ends without conclusion… Minjoo: “Remains disappointed”

The President’s Office and the Democratic Party of Korea held a second preparatory meeting on the afternoon of the 25th to prepare for the meeting between President Yoon Seok-yeol and Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myeong, but it ended without any conclusion regarding the schedule or agenda. The Democratic Party said, “We held the meeting that day in anticipation of the results of the President’s Office’s review of the agenda presented by the Democratic Party, but we were disappointed that (the President’s Office) did not present the results of the review in detail.”

At the second preparatory meeting through a briefing that day, Chun Joon-ho, Chief of Staff to the Democratic Party leader, said, “I requested the President’s Office to make efforts to ensure that the meeting meets the public’s expectations,” and added, “(The President’s Office) will not respond to the agenda presented to make the meeting fruitful.” He expressed his regret by saying, “It would have been nice to have provided a review opinion.”

Director Cheon then emphasized, “(Among the proposed agendas) there are agendas that reflect the public sentiment in this general election,” and answered “yes” when asked if he was of the position that talks can only take place if all agendas are accepted. Regarding this, Director Cheon said, “Our direction is that it should be a fruitful meeting that the people expect.” He added, “If the President’s Office gives a specific review opinion on the agenda we proposed, the conversation between the two of us (President Yoon and Representative Lee) will be greatly improved.” “I think it can be achieved concretely,” he said. He added, “They said they would give that (review opinion) and a meeting was prepared today, but it didn’t happen properly.”

At the same time, he said, “(The Democratic Party) has been talking about various agendas in the direction of ‘we need to save the people’s livelihood’ and ‘we need to change the tone of state administration.’” He added, “It would be good if we could seriously evaluate and achieve results in those areas.” Regarding the agenda proposed by the Democratic Party to the President’s Office, Director Cheon said, “It is difficult to properly confirm the details,” and added, “We have talked a lot through various messages from the time of the general election to after, so I hope you will make a judgment within that scope.”

Director Cheon said at the second preparatory meeting that day that the President’s Office “replied to us a detailed plan containing their (President’s Office) position,” and added, “We still have to think about what to do with this in the future.” He said, “They (the President’s Office) mainly talked about their rough and comprehensive thoughts on the agenda we presented and why the meeting between the leaders is necessary.” He continued, “The Democratic Party persuaded the President’s Office to ‘review and present (the agenda)’ in order for the meeting to proceed in the direction that the people expect. If there is any discussion about this, whether positive or negative, or to some extent, the two people will meet. “I told him (I relayed) that it would be much more helpful when having a conversation.”

He said, “We were unable to discuss the schedule for the meeting between the leaders,” and added, “I think we need to review the President’s Office’s review and position on the agenda proposed by the Democratic Party and discuss how to respond in the future.” Regarding the third preparatory meeting, he said, “The schedule has not been set yet, but the Democratic Party decided to quickly discuss (the schedule) and provide a reply to them (the President’s Office).” He also answered the question, “Is not having a meeting between the two leaders an option?” and answered, “What we are worried about right now is, ‘How can we hold a fruitful meeting?’”

Reporter Lee Ye-ji of Donga.com [email protected]