Presidential Office: "No Informal Envoys or Backchannel Lines in Yoon-Li Summit"

Dismissal of Controversy Over Operation of 'Unofficial Special Envoy' in Yeongsu Talks

President Yoon Suk-yeol and Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, are talking at the summit meeting held on the 29th of last month at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The Presidential Office dismissed media reports claiming that an unofficial special envoy line was activated during the preparation process for the summit meeting between President Yoon Suk-yeol and Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 29th of last month, stating, "There was no grand special envoy or behind-the-scenes line."

On the afternoon of the 7th, a Presidential Office official met with reporters at the Yongsan Presidential Office and, when asked to confirm whether there had been any unofficial special envoy activities for the summit meeting, said, "It was done through official channels."

The official explained, "There have been many calls for the President to meet with Representative Lee Jae-myung for a very long time," adding, "There were even columns written in the media, and some members within the ruling party expressed the need for it."

He continued, "(So) the President decided and directly called Representative Lee," explaining, "Until now, when such meetings were arranged, the President rarely made direct calls to make them happen."

The Presidential Office had previously revealed that on the 19th of last month, President Yoon also called Representative Lee to propose a meeting in Yongsan.

Earlier, Hankook Ilbo reported that Ham Seong-deuk, Dean of the Graduate School of Political Studies at Kyonggi University, and Im Hyuk-baek, Professor Emeritus at Korea University, acted as unofficial special envoys in their capacities as representatives of President Yoon and Representative Lee, respectively, to coordinate the summit meeting.

According to Dean Ham and Professor Im, President Yoon conveyed his intention to exclude uncomfortable figures for Representative Lee from the appointment of the Presidential Chief of Staff in the next presidential election and showed a conciliatory gesture by expressing his willingness to establish a "hotline" through a direct phone number to Representative Lee.

Meanwhile, when asked whether the newly established Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs in the Presidential Office would be excluded from investigative functions, the official responded, "Isn't the intention of the person leading the organization important when creating it?" He added, "(If you look at Kim Joo-hyun's experience as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, you will see that he is optimized for this kind of work."

He further added, "As of now, I understand that the plan is to organize the office with the Public Service Discipline Secretary's Office, Legal Secretary's Office, and Civil Affairs Secretary's Office."

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