President Moon Invites Ruling and Opposition Leaders to Blue House Lunch After 678 Days

Sharing Achievements of the Korea-US Summit, Request for 'Bipartisan Cooperation'... Visited National Assembly in February Last Year, Met with Ruling and Opposition Leaders

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] President Moon Jae-in invited the leaders of the five ruling and opposition parties to the Blue House for lunch after 678 days to discuss national issues. In particular, President Moon shared the outcomes of the South Korea-U.S. summit and requested "bipartisan cooperation."

Attendees at the Blue House lunch meeting on the 26th included Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea; Kim Ki-hyun, acting leader and floor leader of the People Power Party; Yeo Young-guk, leader of the Justice Party; Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People Party; and Choi Kang-wook, leader of the Open Democratic Party.

Spokespersons from each party also joined the lunch. The Blue House was represented by Chief of Staff Yoo Young-min, National Security Office Director Suh Hoon, Policy Chief Lee Ho-seung, and Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Lee Cheol-hee.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Before the lunch, President Moon greeted the five party leaders and took a commemorative photo. After moving to the Inwang Room, greetings were exchanged between President Moon and the five party leaders, followed by a private lunch meeting.

A key Blue House official explained, "There was much to report, including the summit outcomes, semiconductors, vaccines, the South Korea-U.S. alliance, and the Korean Peninsula peace process." It has been 678 days since President Moon last invited the leaders of the five ruling and opposition parties to the Blue House, which was on July 18, 2019.

Compared to then, both the invited parties and their leaders have changed. In July 2019, attendees included Lee Hae-chan, leader of the Democratic Party; Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the Liberty Korea Party; Sohn Hak-kyu, leader of the Bareunmirae Party; Shim Sang-jung, leader of the Justice Party; and Chung Dong-young, leader of the Party for Democracy and Peace.

At that time, the focus was on Japan's economic retaliation issue. The Blue House led bipartisan cooperation through a "joint statement" with the party leaders. A Blue House official stated, "There are no plans for a separate joint statement at today's meeting with the five party leaders."

Meanwhile, President Moon held a meeting with the leaders of the four ruling and opposition parties at the National Assembly, not the Blue House, on February 28 last year during the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis. On May 28 last year, only the floor leaders of the ruling and opposition negotiation groups (Kim Tae-nyeon and Joo Ho-young) were invited to the Blue House for lunch.

At that time, the lunch focused on discussing current issues such as the third supplementary budget. President Moon and the floor leaders also took a walk within the Blue House grounds and engaged in conversation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.