President Lee Jae Myung poses for a photo with the newly elected Democratic Party of Korea leadership ahead of a dinner meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Cheong Wa Dae]
President Lee Jae Myung poses for a photo with the newly elected Democratic Party of Korea leadership ahead of a dinner meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Cheong Wa Dae]

President Lee Jae Myung called on the Democratic Party of Korea's newly elected leadership to set aside internal divisions and work as one with the government and Cheong Wa Dae at their first dinner meeting Tuesday, urging the party to focus on delivering results for the public.

Speaking at Cheong Wa Dae, where he hosted Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok, floor leader Han Byung-do and other senior party figures for dinner, Lee said he hoped party members would "sprint with full force toward building the 'great Republic of Korea' entrusted to us by the people, transcending their small differences."

"No matter how large the differences among us may seem, they are not as great as the differences between us and the opponents we must overcome," Lee said. "If you look for differences, they are endless. If you look for common ground, you can grow closer."

He extended the point with a family analogy. "Even twins born of the same mother are different from each other — if you start looking for differences, you head down the path of enemies; if you look for what you share, you become loving siblings," he said, adding, "I think the same applies to the party, the government and Cheong Wa Dae."

The remarks were widely read as an effort to ease factional tensions that had surfaced around the party convention and to rally the new leadership around a message of cohesion.

Lee also pressed for close coordination among the party, the government and Cheong Wa Dae, asking all three to devote their full energy to addressing the public's livelihood concerns.

"Our Democratic Party — the party, the government and Cheong Wa Dae — is one," Lee said. "The president, you could say, is the flower the Democratic Party has brought into bloom. I am the party's most important member. The government, too, is a government made by the Democratic Party, a government of the Democratic Party."

He went on to say that "what any single actor — whether the party, the government or Cheong Wa Dae — can accomplish alone in carrying out policy is very limited," and called on all three to join forces so that "the people can feel in their daily lives a better quality of life and a better future for the Republic of Korea."


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