"Schedules finally aligned on July 1 after months of coordination; meeting to cover full range of state affairs"

President Lee Jae Myung, then serving as Democratic Party leader, visits former President Moon Jae-in at his private residence in Pyeongsan Village, Habuk-myeon, Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, during the Lunar New Year holiday in January last year, as the two exchange greetings. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung, then serving as Democratic Party leader, visits former President Moon Jae-in at his private residence in Pyeongsan Village, Habuk-myeon, Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, during the Lunar New Year holiday in January last year, as the two exchange greetings. [Yonhap]

Cheong Wa Dae political affairs secretary Hong Ik-pyo said Friday that a luncheon between President Lee Jae Myung and former President Moon Jae-in, scheduled for Tuesday, had been in the works since Lee took office.

In a Facebook post that day, Hong said the meeting had not materialized earlier because of a packed governing schedule focused on normalizing state affairs. "We have been continuously coordinating schedules, and July 1 happened to work for both of them," he said.

Hong said the government's achievements over the past year were made possible by the foundations laid by the Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in administrations. "It is now time to build on those achievements and create changes that citizens can feel in their daily lives," he said.

He added that the meeting with the former president would be "a meaningful occasion to hear his wise counsel and exchange candid views on the full range of state affairs in the interest of restoring livelihoods, uniting the public, and ensuring the success of a government rooted in popular sovereignty."

Meanwhile, some in political circles have suggested the meeting is aimed at tamping down deepening factional tensions within the ruling camp ahead of a party leadership election. Hong's disclosure that the meeting had been in the works for the past year is widely seen as an effort to head off any such misreading of the encounter.


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