Kim Jong-in and Lee Jun-seok's 'Empty-Handed Meeting'... No Breakthrough on Lee Jun-seok's Return or Campaign Committee Revamp

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Kim Jong-in, the Chairman of the People Power Party's (PPP) General Election Committee, and Lee Jun-seok, the PPP leader, met but parted ways empty-handed. No solution was reached to resolve the internal conflict sparked by Lee's resignation from the election committee, and only their existing positions were reiterated. Lee's call for reform of the election committee also seemed to have been rejected.

Kim and Lee had lunch for about an hour and a half at a restaurant in Mapo that day. When reporters asked Kim if he tried to persuade Lee to return to the election committee after the meeting, he said, "Lee is the party leader, so he has the responsibility to lead the presidential election to victory as the party leader," adding that he would fulfill that role. When asked again about Lee's return, Kim said, "Whether he returns to the election committee or not doesn't really matter."

Regarding Lee's call for personnel reform of the election committee, Kim said, "(He) will no longer talk about that," distancing himself from the reform proposal.

Lee told reporters, "There is no notable change in position," and said, "We talked about directions and changes that can lead to victory, including changes in the election committee." Lee added, "(The call for election committee reform) is neither a prerequisite for my return nor something I want to do conditionally." When asked if he planned to meet with Yoon Seok-yeol, the PPP presidential candidate, Lee said, "No."

Earlier, after visiting Guinsa Temple in Danyang, Chungbuk, Yoon denied rumors of conflict with Lee in a meeting with reporters. Referring to the meeting between Kim and Lee, he said, "If I do my part well and Lee does his, I believe we can create synergy and carry out this election campaign effectively."

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