President Lee to hold lunch meeting with leaders of ruling and opposition parties on the 8th; separate one-on-one meeting with People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk also planned.

President Lee to meet with leaders of ruling and opposition parties for the first time in 78 days; 13 days after leader Jang's election.

Presidential Office: "Meeting to proceed freely without a set agenda... hoping it will be an opportunity to strengthen cooperation and communication."

President Lee Jae-myung listens to remarks by Kim Yong-tae, interim leader of the People Power Party, during a lunch meeting with leaders of the ruling and opposition parties at his residence in Hannam-dong, Seoul, on June 22. (Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Han Sang-gyun = President Lee Jae-myung listens to remarks by Kim Yong-tae, interim leader of the People Power Party, during a lunch meeting with leaders of the ruling and opposition parties at his residence in Hannam-dong, Seoul, on June 22.

From left, clockwise: Kang Hoon-sik, Chief of Staff to the President; Kim Byung-ki, acting party leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party; President Lee; Kim Yong-tae, interim leader of the People Power Party; Song On-seok, floor leader; and Woo Sang-ho, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs. 2025.6.22 xyz@yna.co.kr

President Lee Jae-myung will hold a lunch meeting on the 8th at the Yongsan Presidential Office with Jeong Cheong-rae, leader of the Democratic Party, and Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party.

Kim Byung-wook, the Presidential Secretary for Political Affairs, introduced the schedule during a briefing on the 5th and stated, "This meeting is scheduled to proceed freely without any specific agenda."

Kim continued, "This meeting is intended for an open exchange of opinions on national affairs," adding, "We hope it will serve as an opportunity to strengthen cooperation and communication."

The Democratic Party and the People Power Party will each send their spokespersons and chief secretaries to the meeting, in addition to their respective leaders. Kang Hoon-sik, Chief of Staff, and Woo Sang-ho, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs, will attend from the Presidential Office.

Notably, a separate one-on-one meeting between President Lee and leader Jang is also scheduled to take place after the lunch, Kim stated.

This marks the first meeting between President Lee and the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties in 78 days, since his lunch meeting on June 22 with Kim Byung-ki, then acting leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party, and Kim Yong-tae, interim leader of the People Power Party. This will also be the first time President Lee has met alone with the leader of the main opposition party since taking office.

Furthermore, the meeting is taking place just 13 days after leader Jang was elected at the party's national convention.

Earlier, leader Jang had expressed his position that he could agree to a meeting if President Lee promised a separate one-on-one meeting at a later date, and it appears that the format of this meeting was decided in consideration of leader Jang's request.

Kim stated, "After leader Jang took office, Senior Secretary Woo Sang-ho delivered congratulatory flowers and conveyed President Lee's intention to meet. Subsequently, President Lee, upon returning from his visits to the United States and Japan, instructed the promotion of a meeting with leader Jang."

Kim explained that since then, the Office of Political Affairs met with Park Joon-tae, the chief secretary to the leader of the People Power Party, three to four times to negotiate, and ultimately reached a final agreement on the meeting for that morning.

In response to a question about whether there was any backlash from the Democratic Party, given that Democratic Party leader Jeong Cheong-rae had reportedly refused to meet with the People Power Party leadership, Kim replied, "There were no complaints or disagreements whatsoever. Everyone agreed on the necessity of dialogue between the President and the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties, and we are pursuing it together."