President Lee Jae-myung Holds Dinner with Kim Min-seok, Chung Cheong-rae, and Song Young-gil: 'Party, Government, and Presidential Office Are a Fated Community'

[Anchor]

President Lee Jae-myung held a dinner meeting with Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok, who recently won the party leadership election, along with lawmakers Chung Cheong-rae and Song Young-gil, who also ran in the race. President Lee emphasized that the party, the government, and the presidential office form a fated community sharing the historic mission.

Reporter Park Yerim has the details.

[Reporter]

President Lee Jae-myung holds hands with new Democratic Party Leader Kim Min-seok and lawmakers Chung Cheong-rae and Song Young-gil, who competed against him in the leadership race, for a photo session.

[Please look at each other once this way...]

[Song Young-gil / Democratic Party Lawmaker: Look this way too. Why are you only looking that way?]

The ensuing dinner was attended by President Lee, Party Leader Kim, Lawmaker Chung, Lawmaker Song, Floor Leader Han Byung-do, Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-shik, and Senior Presidential Secretary for Political Affairs Hong Ik-pyo.

President Lee first offered congratulations to Party Leader Kim and words of comfort and encouragement to Lawmaker Chung and Lawmaker Song. The presidential office stated that he emphasized all three are comrades who have shared life and death together and responsible protagonists of the sovereign people's government.

President Lee reportedly remarked, "The party, the government, and the presidential office are a fated community and state affairs partners sharing a historic mission," and requested, "Let us join forces to make this year the inaugural year of an irreplaceable Republic of Korea."

The dinner lasted for over three hours, during which the candidates also expressed regret over lingering hard feelings from the party convention.

Secretary Hong conveyed that Party Leader Kim said, "I apologize for some excessive expressions during the party convention process," and Lawmaker Song also stated, "I want to clear up misunderstandings with my comrade Chung Cheong-rae."

In response, Lawmaker Chung reportedly responded, "We are comrades who crossed together the deadly line of the December 3 emergency martial law rebellion," adding, "As a fated community with the Lee Jae-myung administration, we must unite our strengths to achieve victory in the general and presidential elections and successfully re-create the government."

As for the dinner menu, a unity yukhoe (beef tartare) made with ingredients from the hometowns of the three candidates was served. Given that there had been significant internal concerns regarding the conflicts that arose during the party convention, the menu is interpreted as a gesture emphasizing harmony and a one-team spirit.

(Video reporting: Jung Sang-bo, Ha Ryung | Video editing: Nam Il)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.