President Lee Jae Myung delivers a speech at the 81st Liberation Day ceremony held at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Saturday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung delivers a speech at the 81st Liberation Day ceremony held at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Saturday. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung will host a dinner Wednesday at Cheong Wa Dae with the Democratic Party of Korea's newly elected leader Kim Min-seok and defeated leadership candidates Jung Chung-rae and Song Young-gil, following the ruling party's national convention.

Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Kang Yu-jung announced Monday that Lee had invited Kim, who was elected party leader at the convention, along with Jung and Song, who also competed in the race, to a dinner at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday.

Kang said the dinner was arranged "to further solidify cooperation between the president, the party and the government in steering state affairs, with a focus on party unity and the livelihoods and economy of the people."

The gathering is widely interpreted as part of Lee's effort to foster unity and cohesion within the party following the convention.

Lee had also emphasized party unity in a video address delivered to the convention that day. "Our Democratic Party has been strongest when we are one," he said. "We competed fiercely and debated vigorously, as the Democratic Party does — but from today, we must rally tightly together again around the new leadership."


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